


Blue 4

by firerwolf



Category: Halo (Video Games) & Related Fandoms
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, Gen, Halo 4
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-04
Updated: 2016-03-04
Packaged: 2018-05-24 18:15:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 48,503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6162273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/firerwolf/pseuds/firerwolf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Halo 4 rewritten to include what it always needed. Blue Team</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. prologue

The land was desolate and broken, nothing but glass where no life was fit to live. The land was impossible to recognize, possibly any of the many glassed planets. A cold wind rushed over the land and Kelly wrapped her arms around herself. She sat on the hard ground, staring out at the death and destruction before her. This was the legacy of the war, what was left behind by a quarter of a century of fighting.

Kelly curled up a bit more as the cold soaked into her bones. She wished that she had her armor, something to keep the cold out. She felt something rest on her shoulders and she was wrapped in warmth. Kelly reached up to her shoulder and she felt the cloth of the blanket. She looked back and could see him standing behind her. "Thanks." He smiled and she held a hand out to him. He shook his head and Kelly frowned. "Sit with me."

He shook his head again, taking a step back. Kelly stood up, turning toward him. He took a few more steps back and Kelly just watched him. She didn't know why he was leaving her. "I know you'll find me. Just wake up."

Kelly's eyes slowly opened awoken by a familiar voice. "Commander, I believe you'll want to hear this." The voice echoed, each bounce back ranging in gender and pitch. "Commander, wake up."

Kelly groaned. "I'm getting up. What do you want me to hear?" Kelly sat up on her bed, not very happy to be awake.

Kelly recognized the female voice as it played. It had been almost five years since she'd heard it but she'd know it anywhere. " _Forward unto dawn_. Requesting immediate exac. Survivors aboard. Prioritization code: victor zero five dash three dash Sierra zero one one seven."

Kelly sprang out of her bed and moved and a moment later was standing beside the holotank beside her quarter's door. "Play it again, Sapphire." The message repeated and Kelly grinned. A distress call from the _Forward unto Dawn_ , saying there were survivors, one one seven. "When do we head into slip space?"

The holotank flared to life and the ball of light that was the smart AI Sapphire appeared. Its echoing voice was ever calm, if not disorienting. "Crew is preparing for slip space at the moment, Commander." Sapphire shifted and Kelly could see what looked to be hints of several faces made of a sort of crystal material through the light. Sapphire was like no AI Kelly had ever met. While most had a clear understanding of what they wanted to be Sapphire always seemed to Kelly like an AI that was caught between genders and the choice of a human avatar or abstract form. At first its ever changing voice had been hard to handle but after a month of working together her headaches from the echoes had gone away.

"What about the Spartans? When are we set to go into cryo?" Kelly couldn't help her excitement.

"The Spartan IIs are set to go into cryo in thirty," Sapphire reported.

Kelly groaned. Once more things were not moving at her preferred speed. John had always told her that the world couldn't keep up with her pace and she'd never realized how right he was until he wasn't around to fill the time it took for the world to catch up. There was a knock at her door. "It's open," she called so the person could hear her.

The door slid open and Fred stepped in. "From the look on your face you've heard the news." Fred smiled slightly, glad to see Kelly smiling. She hadn't been smiling much in the last four years.

"You mean do I know that we've found John? Yes, I know. Sapphire played the message for me." Kelly smiled in the direction of the holotank. "First time it's woke me for something worth my time."

"I am not sure if you meant insult but it is my duty to insure you are informed of all pertinent information and do receive orders." The AI grew brighter for a moment and then eased back to its normal brightness. It was one of the few human like things Sapphire did. Its voice was always flat but it seemed unable to prevent the changes in brightness and color that showed emotion.

"It's not you I'm insulting, Sapphire. This is just the first time in a while it's felt like this is a Spartan mission," Kelly explained. She turned to look at Fred. "Upset you didn't get to break the news to me yourself?"

Fred shook his head. "I came here to make sure you didn't get your hopes up too high. The voice is Cortana's, but who knows how long it has been playing, if he's actually on it or if it's an attempt of a rampant AI to try to be saved." Kelly's fist slammed into his shoulder. "Ow!"

"Don't you dare say anything like that, Fred. You and I both know John and I can't believe you would dare doubt that he's alive and on that ship." Kelly glared art him, her hands balled into fists.

"Calm down, Kelly. I just don't want you to be disappointed. One of two things is going to happen. Either we go there and John is on the ship and we rescue him or he isn't there and our hopes get crushed. Better to go in as a pessimist in this case," Fred reasoned.

Kelly shook her head but relaxed. "No, I know he's there's, waiting to be found. We are going to find him." There wasn't a single doubt in Kelly's mind that John would be there, that they would find him. It was beyond her understanding that Fred could doubt that.

"How can you be so sure?" Fred asked.

Kelly frowned at him. "You know why. I know he's there, waiting. We are going to find him." Fred knew full well not to question her on this. He shouldn't have ever asked that question even knowing the bond she had with John.

Fred sighed, giving up on trying to convince her. "All right, let's head down to the cryo bay. I know you're probably jumping out of your skin to get moving."

"Everyone just moves too slow," Kelly complained. "If they could just move as fast as me we'd already be there."

"We'll sadly the rest of us weren't gifted with your speed." Fred stepped out of the room and Kelly followed. "We'll just have to settle for as fast as _Infinity_ can get is there."

"Not fast enough," Kelly muttered. They walked in silence to the large cryobay. It could hold hundreds of pods, each assigned to a specific crew member. With the size of _Infinity_ 's crew this was just one of several. They were usually split up by what part of the ship a person worked or lived in. The one the Spartans were assigned to was filled with technicians, officers, and a lot of Spartan IVs. The two Spartans headed to the deck that held the pods that were assigned to them about halfway up the wall of cyro pods.

Linda was already waiting along the catwalk to the pods, leaning against the railing with her arms crossed over her chest. "Surprised you aren't sprinting here," the sniper teased. "Promise that when we find him you two keep it PG."

Kelly smirked at her friend. "No promises, I'm going to try my hardest though not to hug him." At least Linda wasn't being a pessimist like Fred. After so many years of hoping to find the Master Chief Kelly needed all the support for her hope that she could get.

"Just warn me ahead of time. I don't want to see such disgusting shows of affection." Linda smiled and fell into step with then toward the pods. To Spartans just a simple hug was like two normal soldiers having sex. Even an open smile was considered an obscene thing to do with non-Spartans around.

They reached the technician and Kelly let Fred take the lead. She wasn't comfortable with non-Spartan IIs seeing how happy she was and if she talked she was sure she wouldn't be able to hide it. "Spartans zero-five-eight, zero-eight-seven, and one-zero-four, reporting for cryostaysis."

The technician typed in some things on his terminal and nodded. "All right, they're all set for you."

Fred nodded to the man and moved over to the cryo pod. The Spartans all stripped and moved to their respective pods. Kelly took deep breaths, waiting for the chemicals to take effect and knock her out. Her eyes closed and relaxed in the pod, relieved to know they'd finally be bringing John home.


	2. Chapter 1

Kelly took in a deep breath as the chemicals worked their way out of her system. The hatch opened and she leaned forward, coughing up the clear liquid that supplied nutrients while in cryo. Infinity would be coming out of slip space soon and the crew was being awoken to prepare. Once her lungs were clear of the mucus like liquid Kelly made a quick pass through the showers before she grabbed her clothing and got dressed into the black under layer of her armor. Fred and Linda joined her a couple seconds later, Fred still couching up a little of the liquid. Kelly was already off down the catwalk before they even got dressed.

The line of armor stations was a bustle of activity, gearing up the Spartan IVs. Officers shouted orders at their soldiers and carts of weapons were being pushed around so that people could grab their combat gear. Kelly moved to one that wasn't being used, the one that was specifically set up for the more advanced and expensive Mark VII armor that the Spartan IIs wore. While the Spartan IVs used armor that was designed by private companies the Spartan IIs were still given armor created and perfected by the brilliant minds at ONI. Kelly moved into the center of the ring and held her arms out.

"Would you like an update?" Sapphire offered.

"Tell me the news." The ring rose up and started to assemble the armor around Kelly as she stood. Once the arms were armored up she took a step back, allowing the boots to be brought up from the floor. She stepped into them and stood as the rest of the armor was put into place.

The AI's avatar appeared at a holotank to the side of the machine. It's color fluctuated in a steady rhythm as it always did when giving a clear report, like it was keeping time as it spoke to pace itself. "We don't know much other than the signal. The probe that we'd sent there, that received the message, has been destroyed. It should be assumed that there will be hostiles as soon as we've exited slip space. The Captains plan is to find the signal, retrieve whatever we can, and if possible clear out enemies. These locations point to a Forerunner world so it is uncertain if the enemy is a known type or will be something we have not yet found."

The mechanical arms put Kelly's chest plate in place and it connected to the power pack. "Right, because with Forerunner nothing should be ruled out." Kelly stopped the machine from putting her helmet on. She grabbed it from the robotic arms and slipped it on. "So, be ready to come out of slip space and be blown out of the sky." Kelly moved over to the terminal that Sapphire's avatar hovered over. The avatar vanished as she pulled out the chip and slotted it into her helmet.

"The Captain has not yet ordered deployments but I am sure you and the Spartan IIs will be sent in." Sapphire's voice echoed more in Kelly's helmet but she'd grown used to the ever changing voice. When she'd first received the AI she couldn't listen to it inside her helmet for more than a couple minutes. It was Spartan instinct to adapt, to survive with what you were given, even if that was an AI with a disorienting voice.

"If he doesn't send me out with the rabbits again." It wasn't that Kelly didn't like being deployed with her personally trained soldiers, but they could handle themselves and if the found John she wasn't sure how badly whatever actions she took would reflect on their opinion of her. She didn't really want to find out.

"The rabbits have been deployed three times with perfect reports after their missions. The Captain is aware that they can stand on their own." Sapphire was right. The rabbits had been excellent in combat without Kelly leading their every step from the field. Hopefully the Captain would keep that in mind.

Kelly watched as Fred and Linda armored up, each in their specialized armor. Linda had attachments that allowed her to carry extra sniper ammunition and snipe from distances that would blow any soldiers mind, particularly if they were the ones in her scope. Fred's armor had heavier plating and was designed to help deflect close quarter attacks. Even Kelly's armor was different. Rather than heavier plating hers was cut down to save weight and allow her to reach higher speeds. The plating had also been curved and made sleeker for better aerodynamics.

"So what does the ball of light say our orders are?" Linda asked. She never called Sapphire by its name. Kelly was never sure if it was out of jealousy as Kelly had been given an AI and she hadn't or if she simply didn't like Sapphire.

"No orders yet. We should be coming out of slip space soon, though. I'm sure we'll get them soon." Kelly turned her attention to the Spartan IVs that were suiting up. She could spot the soldiers of her team from the demon rabbit insignia painted on their armor, the same on her shoulder and chest armor. The only difference was their rabbits were on fire, hers simply had a Roman numeral two behind it. It was really instinct that she went looking for them, checked to see they weren't screwing around. After all, she'd trained them for their duty so it was her reputation on the line with whatever actions they took.

"Commander, the Spartan IIs are being ordered to report to the bridge," Sapphire reported.

"See, orders. Thank you, Sapphire." Kelly turned and walked through the crowded area. Soldiers of all kinds moved out of the way for Spartan IVs but even IVs parted like a sea for Spartan IIs.

The Spartans arrived at the wide bridge of the _Infinity_. The Captain was busy but his first officer, Commander Lasky moved over to meet them. "Glad you made it. Figured you three were the people who most deserved to be here when we exit slip space."

Kelly didn't really know Lasky. He was a good soldier, and a good leader, at least that was what the reports showed. Kelly remembered him as a surviving cadet but she didn't really remember much about the man himself. She remembered that he risked his life, allowing John to kill a hunter without having to take it on in one-on-one combat and probably had saved the Master Chief's life by doing so. It was a good enough reason for Kelly to like the man without much question.

"How much do we know?" Fred asked.

"Not much really. We have the distress call and something destroyed our probe. We assume hostiles but we don't know what kind," Lasky explained. "Other than that we're flying in blind."

The Spartans moved over to the holotank that was the main command console for the ship. Here Infinity could give them detailed images of whatever they might need to view. Hopefully it would give them a good look at the enemy as soon as they were out of slip space.

The Captain glanced toward the Spartans but didn't really acknowledge them. Kelly was neutral about Del Rio. He was a stable Captain, not into heroics which fit with the ship. _Infinity_ was the pride of humanity, expensive and powerful. You didn't put a ship like that in the hands of a Captain like Keys. He'd been a daredevil and had damaged every ship he'd received in attempts to defeat the Covenant. That sort of attitude didn't work for a ship like _Infinity_. Del Rio was certainly a Captain that wouldn't do such wild maneuver. Not that _Infinity_ could pull off anything fancy due to its size. It was built for power not maneuverability.

"Sir, exiting slip space," a bridge officer announced. The screens, which had all only shown the black of slip space flashed and the nothing was replaced by a planet hanging in space.

"Where's whatever shot down the probe?" Lasky asked. Kelly noted that he turned to the Spartans for answers, not the Captain.

"The planet might have been the source of what shot down our probe. If it's Forerunner it might have defense systems. For all we know the probe was drifting toward it and it has systems to simply keep things from impacting it," Fred reasoned.

"Try to get me a lock on the distress signal," Del Rio ordered. The holotank before him started to map the planet. Kelly frowned, spotting odd parts of the planet that looked wrong to her. She tried to remember as much as she could about Onyx but nothing seemed to match what she was seeing on this planet.

"Sir, the signal is faint but it seems to be coming from inside the planet," a bridge officer reported. "Somewhere near the core."

"Take us in a bit closer to the planet. Let's see if we can get a clear uplink to the signal," the Captain ordered. The officers snapped to action and the ship started toward the planet. Del Rio hit a button on the controls. "UNSC _Forward unto Dawn_ , this is UNSC _Infinity_. We are receiving your signal. It's feint but we are reading that you are in the center of the planet. _Infinity_ is moving in to attempt to improve the connection." The Captain released the button and took a step away from the holotank, looking to the main screens.

"Breathe," Fred whispered over the COMM. Kelly let out a breath that she didn't know she'd been holding. If they hadn't been on the bridge in front of a lot of people Kelly would have hit him for the comment. At least he didn't say 'I told you so', yet.

Kelly looked to Lasky and he seemed worried, maybe a bit disappointed. Kelly had to admit she felt the same. She'd thought that they'd come out, find the _Forward unto_ Dawn and grab John. There didn't seem to be anything at all orbiting the planet, and Kelly didn't understand how the signal had gotten to the center of the planet. Something felt wrong about it. Why would John have gone to the center? If it was a shield world maybe he had gone into a form of cryo and was waiting for them in the heart of the planet.

Del Rio was silent as the planet slowly grew larger and larger in the screen. "Spartans, I want you to prepare to deploy to the planet. If we can't make contact we'll have to send in teams to find out what we can, to locate the signal."

The Spartan IIs all snapped to attention. "Yes, sir." They all turned and made their way off of the bridge to head to the hangers. It was a long walk and many people used some form of motorized transportation as it took too long to walk the distance.

The Spartans were silent for a few minutes as they walked before Fred turned to Kelly. "Do you still think he's down there, in that planet?"

Kelly thought about it and then threw out all her thoughts and just focused on what her instincts told her. "Yes, I think he's there. Something still feels wrong about all of this. I don't know what it is but I think that something isn't right. It doesn't matter thought. We haven't come this far to hesitate in saving John."

"I'm with her," Linda spoke up. "I didn't like the look of that scan, something was wrong with it, but we can't back down now. If he is in there, we'd never forgive ourselves for not going and getting him."

"I'm not disagreeing. If John is in there we have to find him and get him out. Just wanted to be sure that you still had your energy. You should sprint ahead and get a pelican ready for us. Stock it up with ammunition for Covenant and Flood. We should be prepared for anything." Fred moved to the side to allow Kelly a clear path.

Kelly knew what he was doing. Giving her a chance to busy herself and move at her own pace. Kelly nodded and started to run. She darted out of the way of slower soldiers. It was nice to be sprinting at her own pace, not slowed to a walk and just waiting on the world around her. It was a little bit of control that she could have at a time when she felt like she had none.

Kelly reached the hanger and looked over the choice of pelicans. "Sapphire, find me one that's not claimed and tag it as ours." Kelly moved over to the weapons and started to grab whatever they might need. Shotguns, assault rifles, DMRs, the case that held Linda's personal sniper rifle, and a couple Spartan lasers. She put all the weapons on one electronic trolley and turned toward the send of pelicans. A nav marker showed up over the pelican that Sapphire had tagged for them. She pushed the trolley over to it and started to unload the gear. She had just put away the last of the ammunition when Fred stepped onto the rear of the pelican.

"We don't have orders yet to take off but _Infinity_ is nearing the planet almost enough to deploy the pelicans." Fred moved up toward the cockpit and took a seat in the pilot's seat.

"I know, if we had been given orders Sapphire would have alerted me and the pelican would be ready to get flying," Kelly pointed out. She looked back as Linda walked onto the pelican. Kelly pointed to the sniper rifle case and Linda nodded, acknowledging the weapon. "We're prepared for Covenant from grunts to Wraiths and Flood." Kelly moved over and took a seat. The only thing left to do was wait.

There was a sudden jolt and Kelly was almost forced out of her seat. She caught herself with one of the safety straps and looked around, seeking any explanation. "Sapphire, what's going on?"

"The _Infinity_ is being pulled toward the planet. They are attempting to escape its pull but my calculations show that we will not be able to. Wait." Kelly stood from her seat and looked to Fred who was looking for her to answers. "Something is happening on the planet."

"Sapphire, give us a view of what's happening on our HUDs." Kelly frowned as the image of the planet showed up in her vision. She could see the planet growing closer and closer, and something odd was breaking apart on the planet.

"Commander, we are being drawn into the planet," Sapphire informed her.

"Just great," Kelly muttered, moving out of the pelican to help try to secure down whatever crates or machines might be dangerous if things got rougher. Kelly was fairly sure that this ride wasn't going to get any smoother but she just hoped that once they were in the planet they would be able to get control and prevent a crash. If they could then they'd be one step closer to finding John and then they'd only have to worry about a way out. There was still a nagging feeling at the back of Kelly's mind that something was wrong but she pushed that thought aside for now and focused instead on securing down ammunition crates.


	3. Chapter 2

Kelly groaned and looked around. A pelican was lying on the hanger floor, banged up but overall still in good shape. Kelly was lying on her stomach and was pinned to the ground by something. She had been helping secure people into place as the collision alarms had sounded. When the ship had hit ground Kelly had not yet secured herself. She put her hands on the floor and pushed up. The metal shifted on her and she moved her arm so that it would slide down. Kelly put one hand back against what she now realized was a part of a longsword wing. She pushed it to the side and stood, looking around the hanger. A couple Spartan IVs had come loose from their security straps. The few crates that hadn't been secured down fully were lying on the hanger floor.

"Sapphire, update," Kelly ordered. She moved over to a couple of the Spartan IVs that were undoing their restraints. "Merant, help people get out of their security straps and check for wounded. Smith, go check the pelican and see if it's still operational." The two Hell Rabbits snapped to action and Kelly looked around, searching for the other Spartan IIs. Fred was helping remove a crate that had trapped a few members of the crew and Linda was organizing the medical teams that were checking for injuries.

" _Infinity_ has crashed inside the Forerunner world. The ship is damaged and there seems to be an unidentified craft heading toward us," Sapphire reported. "There are also unidentified signals in the nearby area."

"Has the Captain issued and orders?" Kelly moved over to one of the crates and pushed it to the side. "Exactly how much damage has been done?"

"A bit but it isn't what is keeping us down. What caused the ship to crash and is keeping us in place is the unidentified craft and the planet's gravity well." Static washed over Kelly's HUD and then it snapped back to normal. "It seems that the craft is scanning the ships systems. I have had to separate myself from its databases in order to prevent myself from being scanned as well."

"Why would it be scanning the ship?" Kelly moved out of the way of a medical team. "Sapphire, give me a visual of the object." A black ball showed up in her vision and she frowned. The bottom looked like it had clean cracks that glowed an orange-red like lava. "What is that thing?"

"I cannot be sure. Commander, the Captain is putting together a team to try to scout the gravity well's location. I am guessing that you would like yourself to be placed with that team?" The AI's voice was flat but Kelly knew that it was teasing her. At least she no longer had to ask the AI if it was messing with her.

"Yes, make sure all the Spartan IIs are on that team. Tell them we already had a pelican ready to go. Do you know who's going to be leading the mission?" Kelly moved over to the pelican that the Spartans had already loaded. She set to putting the weapons and ammunitions back into place and securing them down.

"Commander Lasky is leading the mission. Commander Palmer is also going to be present with a group of Spartan IVs. They have accepted your offer and have assigned the Spartan IIs to the mission," the AI reported.

"Thank you Sapphire." Kelly switched onto the team COM. "We've got a mission, Spartans. Captain wants the location of the gravity well that's keeping us in place scouted and we've volunteered to help them out."

The other two Spartans rejoined her in the pelican. "Who else is coming with us?" Fred asked as he grabbed one of the Spartan lasers and put it in its place.

"Lasky's leading the mission and Palmer's bringing a squad of Spartan IVs." Linda looked toward her and they both had the same thought. Why would they need Spartan IVs if they had three Spartan IIs. One Spartan II was as good as a company of Spartan IV. "There's also an odd craft outside that's keeping us in place. I don't know what the Captain has planned for that but it's not a part of the mission."

"Are we sure that craft won't just shoot us down?" Fred moved to the pilot's seat once more and did the preflight checks. "I'd like to prevent having to jump from another pelican."

"The Captain is planning to have the _Infinity_ hold off the attack while providing cover for your pelican," Sapphire interjected. "I cannot confirm if they will be able to handle it though as I have no assessment of the unidentified sphere outside the ship."

"So then be ready to be shot down and forced to land," Fred grumbled. Kelly didn't blame him. The last time they'd had to drop out of a crashing pelican almost half the Spartans with them had been killed by the impact. It was also the fight that had seen their home glassed.

Kelly moved to the rear of the pelican and looked out. There were Spartan IVs and marines heading to several other pelicans which she guessed were going to be heading out with them. She spotted Palmer and Lasky heading toward their pelican. They stopped at the base of the pelican's ramp and Palmer turned back to talk to a couple Spartan IVs. Lasky walked up the ramp and stopped beside Kelly.

"You know this is my first time going on a mission with you guys. Hopefully I live up to expectations." Lasky smiled moved into the pelican. Kelly made a note that he didn't have any armor so they'd have to protect him and keep him away from the main combat if they had to. "Oh, and they're sending out some other pelicans with marines and Spartan IVs." Kelly nodded, acknowledging that her guess had been correct.

Palmer moved up the ramp and Kelly nodded to the woman. The Commander of the Spartan IVs, as usual, wore no helmet and Kelly was starting to wonder if she even owned one. Still, Kelly liked the woman. Sure she was harsh on the Spartan IVs sometimes, expected them to get the job done without excuses, whatever she told them to do, but Kelly saw no problem with that. The Spartan IIs had always been expected to get the job done no matter what, so it was logical to expect the same from the Spartan IVs. Palmer wasn't the nicest woman to like, though. After twelve tours during the Human-Covenant war she was allowed to be a bit unimpressed by the Spartan IIs, at least on the outside. Palmer may have been cold and distant toward the Spartan IIs but she was that way with everyone. She'd never been outright vicious or cruel. She let the Spartan IIs be which was the most respectful thing she could have done. She treated the Spartan IIs like they already knew what to do, didn't need the nagging.

Kelly watched the Spartan IVs boarded the pelican, not recognizing most of them. With so many soldiers Kelly didn't know most of them, really only the hell rabbits. They took their seats and Kelly moved to one of the empty seats. The Spartan IVs all looked to the floor of the pelican, not daring to look up at the Spartan IIs. It was odd to Kelly that even though they were Spartans they still managed to make the Spartan IIs seem different. She still felt like they didn't accept the Spartan IIs as the same as them, as though they were still freaks.

Palmer was relaxed as ever. She'd dealt enough with Spartan IIs that she didn't feel uncomfortable. "So, how exactly are we going to do this? We've just got to get the coordinates and head back to the Infinity for a proper attack, right?"

"That's the plan. We don't know what's out there and hopefully the _Infinity_ will be able to give us cover." Lasky seemed much more nervous than Palmer. Kelly wasn't sure if it was because of the mission or the Spartan IIs. "Should be just a clean cut mission."

The pelican shifted and Kelly knew that they were being put on the launch track. The pelican suddenly shot forward and it gained speed as it left the _Infinity_. Kelly just sat back and waited for them to reach the location. "Sapphire, can you use the pelican's systems to scan the area. Maybe give us an idea of what might be out there."

"I am checking COM channels. I am getting Covenant signals so there are some Covenant here. I am also finding another signal that I can't quite identify. It matches no known pattern," Sapphire explained. "I will continue to monitor it. I will try also to crack the unknown signal."

"I suppose that's the best I can hope for," Kelly muttered. There wasn't much else that she could do. The one problem with being on a pelican or ship was that there was basically no control. She would have preferred heading out in warthogs, at least then she would have some control, and that was what she needed. Her mind turned to John, wondering if they would still have the chance to save him before they tried to leave the planet. She still wanted to find him, at least find out what happened to him. None of them had been there when he'd gone through the portal, to the Ark, and she wanted to know.

"Hostile fire," Sapphire announced. The pelican shook and Kelly grabbed a bar above her to keep from being thrown from the seat.

"Our wing's been hit. We have to land," Fred announced. The pelican shifted to the side and Kelly could feel that they were losing altitude. She held on tight as they darted this way and that. The pelican hit the ground and Kelly was nearly forced out of her seat. The dust settled and Kelly looked around. A couple of the Spartans had come out of their seats but Palmer had at least kept Lasky from being tossed around. She was fairly sure that they could just leave Lasky mainly under Palmer's protection and he'd be fine.

Kelly grabbed one of the battle rifles and the shotguns and then moved to the back of the pelican. The rest of the Spartans were grabbing their gear and getting ready. "Find some cover," Kelly instructed. "I'll scout out a space where we can take more permanent shelter." Kelly waited until the ramp was down before she moved out into the jungle. No one voiced any objections so she set out at a brisk jog.

The soft moss under her feet made it a bit harder to move quickly but she was able to compensate after so many years of combat and scouting. She wound through trees and darter around rocks and roots. She spotted a tree that wound up and connected with more trees. She moved for it and could run up the tree trunk. She stopped as something appeared on her motion tracker. She raised her battle rifle and swept the area. There was a bit of movement and Kelly saw what it was. The thing wasn't natural, she was sure of that. It looked to be made of a shining silver metal and the joints of the metal parts were the same glowing orange-red. Its body resembled that of a salamander or gecko but its head was just a pair of pincers. It turned toward her and it fired some sort of glowing shots. Kelly dodged the fire, aimed, and shot. The three round burst hit its head and the thing fell apart.

Kelly moved up the tree and looked down at the pieces that were lying on the forest floor below. "Sapphire, what was that thing?" She raised her rifle and zoomed in. As she had expected it was all smooth and without seams.

"I cannot identify the creature but I have sent the video of the encounter back to the other Spartans. Commander Lasky would like you to return to the pelican," Sapphire explained.

Kelly looked back toward where she'd come and then looked back up the trees. "I will if I find more," Kelly decided. She started back up the tree and winding roots. The entire place seemed all connected and she could get up pretty high. She continued to go up, moving from tree to tree and finally reaching a metal opening that lead into a large room. She stopped outside of it and glanced into the open passage. It was a medium hall that was about three meters tall and about ten meters wide. She glanced around at the columns searching for of the odd enemies. "Sapphire, tell them I think I've found a good shelter."

" _Commander, you need to head back to the pelican._ " Kelly frowned at Lasky's voice. She'd found shelter, she didn't need to head back to the pelican.

"I've found shelter, Commander. This place is large enough for all the recon teams to take shelter in. Have you made contact with the other pelicans?" She moved through the hall, searching for any enemies.

" _The other pelicans were all shot down. There are wounded and casualties from the other pelicans and a few of our crew is injured,_ " Lasky reported.

"Sapphire, give them a nav marker for this location. I'm going to look around for any way to secure a door or something." Kelly started to move through the structure, moving along the walls and looking for any sort of controls.

" _Commander-_ " The rest of what Lasky said was lost as there was a flash of light beside Kelly. She turned to face it as the light spread and a humanish looking unnatural enemy appeared. Kelly raised her rifle and fired, the rounds hitting the enemy's personal energy shield. The thing fired a weapon and Kelly darted out of the way as the shots hit the wall behind her. She fired until she saw the energy shield shatter away from the thing. It tucked it's legs together and pointed its arms straight down and the same light that had cause it to appear worked in revers and it vanished.

Kelly looked around the room trying to figure out where it went. "Commander Lasky, I've made contact with another hostile. It fled but they are dangerous." There wasn't a response over the COMs before there were two flashes of light and two of the large enemies appeared. Kelly fired and moved out of the way of their shots, trying to take them out. She ducked behind a column and reloaded her battle rifle before popping back out. There was now only one of the enemies. She fired on it and the enemy returned the fire.

There was a flurry of movement to Kelly's side and she turned just in time to see one of the large enemies raising a blade. Kelly moved and stopped it, her hand gripping the creature's wrist. She grabbed the metallic arm tight and then kicked out. Her fist slammed into the enemy's torso and the arm came free. She spun the arm in her grip and ran forward, stabbing forward with the blade. It pierced the mechanical foe and the two both disintegrated into small bits of bright hot metal that vanished.

The second enemy collided with Kelly, pinning her to the wall. Its helmet split open revealing a burning, partially transparent, flaming skull. Its jaw opened wide in a scream. Kelly's fist moved forward, punching toward the skull. The thing backed off enough that it released Kelly. She moved forward, her hand gripping the back of the enemy's skull and put his feet against its torso. She pushed with her feet and the head snapped clean from the torso. Both pieces disintegrated.

Kelly looked around the room and spotted a series of lights. She crossed the rooms to the controls and looked them over. "Which one is the 'close doors' button?"

Kelly turned toward the entrance, battle rifle at the ready, but stopped as she realized that the new arrivals were Spartans. "Kelly, what happened? Lasky said he lost contact with you." Fred moved over toward her and then looked around.

Kelly waited until all of the Spartans were through the doors and then hit the symbol that was indicated on her HUD. The doors slid close, sealing them in. "Everything's fine. I was just finding shelter for us all and clearing it of all enemies."

"All right, get the radio up and working, I want a distress call out to the _Infinity_ ," Lasky ordered. One of Spartans moved to the task and started to work with a radio. Lasky looked to Kelly and frowned. Maybe he was upset she had ignored his orders or maybe he had actually been worried about her when he'd lost contact. "If we're going to get out of here we'll need a space that's big enough for an LZ."

"Sir, we have more incoming friendlies," a Spartan IV announced. "They say they have wounded."

Kelly looked to the rear of the structure and frowned at the opening into the jungle. "Sir, we have a hole in the rear of the building. Enemies could come through it." Kelly was sure that they could just teleport in like the large ones had.

Lasky nodded, acknowledging the information. "We'll have to post spotters back there to insure we aren't flanked. You wouldn't happen to want to volunteer for that as well? You're the only one that's seen the enemies here."

"Yes, sir," Kelly nodded and moved toward the rear tunnel. She looked back as she realized that Linda was following her. "He doesn't trust me to follow orders, does he?" Linda shook her head just a little bit. The two moved along the tunnel until they found what seemed to be an opening. They both fell to their stomachs and crawled forward.

Ahead of them was a large area, large enough that several pelicans could easily land in it. "I think we just found a possible LZ," Linda muttered. Kelly agreed but frowned as she spotted the grunts and jackals milling about the area.

"Commander Lasky, we have sights on a suitable clearing that could be used as a landing area for pelicans," Kelly reported. "It's crawling with Covenant, though."

" _Understood, we're still trying to make contact with_ Infinity. _We've almost got the radio working and the rest of the friendly forces are arriving. Keep an eye on the Covenant there but don't engage."_ There was a hint of hesitation in Lasky's voice.

"Understood sir, we'll keep our distance." Kelly switched off the COM and looked around. She motioned to some roots that lead up to a rim around the area. "We can climb up there and keep an eye on these guys." Linda flashed a green light and the two female Spartans climbed the trees up to the layer. Kelly lay down on one of the thick trunk of a tree and set her battle rifle in place. She made sure to keep an eye on her motion tracker in case any of those mechanical enemies showed up. They both settled in to watch the Covenant and wait for their next orders.


	4. Chapter 3

Kelly watched as the phantom hovered over the flat area and the Covenant troops all boarded. "Where are they going?" She didn't understand why it was that the Covenant would leave the area. She did know that Sapphire was monitoring their chatter.

"I've been studying their COMs and they seem to be organizing. They are often making references to something called the 'Didact', but I don't have any context for this term. They seem to claim that their orders are coming from whatever the 'Didact' is." Kelly didn't need to see the AI's avatar to know it was annoyed. Sapphire never liked missing information.

" _Spartans, we 've got the coordinates for the gravity well. We made contact with_ Infinity _and are going to need a landing zone to evac our wounded and casualties. I'm sending you some assistance to help find us a place big enough._ " Kelly couldn't' help but think there was a bit of excitement to Lasky's voice. She frowned, not understanding why he would be happy about something like this.

"I've got eyes on something," Linda announced. "Looks like one of those lizard like machines that you found earlier but with spikes on its back."

"From the data I have gathered these things are referred to as Prometheans. The small ones seem to be called crawlers and the large ones knights. There is also a reference to something called a watcher but I have yet to identify one."

Kelly spotted a familiar flash of light and one of the knights appeared. "Those big ones will be a problem. They have shields and can teleport." Kelly moved back from her sentry position and slid down the tree trunk. "We should get more ammunition for our weapons. I don't know how much it takes of those to kill one of those things."

"I'll keep an eye on them. You go get us some more ammunition. I don't think I want to be caught unprepared against one of those things." Kelly flashed a green acknowledgment light to Linda and headed off down the jungle path toward the shelter the Spartans were using.

Kelly stopped as she spotted two friendly dots on her motion tracker. "Don't kill me," she muttered over the COM. She moved to the center of the path so that they would spot her easily. She was slightly curious as to who Fred had brought with him.

One of the dots stayed put and Kelly spotted Fred as he moved around a corner. "Why are you heading back?" he asked. "There's no landing zone back there."

"I was heading back to get more ammunition. There are Prometheans up ahead and since I have yet to use bullets to kill one so we have no idea if we have enough ammunition," Kelly explained. "Figured more wouldn't hurt."

"That's reasonable. I'll head back for ammunition. You stay here." Fred didn't let her question his decision before he turned and walked off. Kelly scowled, not liking him just deciding things without even giving her a chance. She noted that he stopped for a moment beside the other dot before he moved on.

The second dot moved forward and Kelly didn't pay it much attention. She supposed it was probably a Spartan IV that Palmer sent to make it look like the Spartan IIs weren't doing it all on their own. Her gaze turned toward the trees around them, not exactly convinced that the small crawlers wouldn't still find a way to get to them or the knights would teleport back to attack them. She wondered if they'd hold a grudge for her killing two of them.

"Kelly?" Kelly spun around at the voice and was met by the sight she'd been waiting four years for. His armor was more bulky then she remembered, but maybe he'd been forced to do some on the move repairs with less advanced equipment. None of them had been there so she didn't know for sure. He stood with assault rifle held loosely in his hand only feet away but she couldn't seem to cross the distance.

"Commander, your vital signs have gone erratic. Is everything all right?" At that moment Sapphire's voice was like nails on a chalkboard in Kelly's ears. It wasn't the voice she wanted to hear at that moment.

"Sapphire, I've waited quite a long time for this. Can you just be quite unless it's an emergency?" Kelly didn't bother waiting for the AI to respond. It would stay silent as she'd requested. She took a deep breath and forced her body to move forward. She raised her hand up and swiped her fingers across his visor in a Spartan smile. She smiled behind her visor, letting her fingers linger for just a fraction of a second longer than usual. "John."

John didn't move, didn't speak, just stood and watched her for several grueling seconds. Kelly didn't understand, didn't know why he didn't seem to be happy to see her. His hand finally rose and swiped over her visor, returning the smile. "When we get the chance, you'll have to tell me what happened to you." Kelly nodded, understanding what he meant. The last time she'd seen him she was just going to Halsey for a medical treatment for the burns that had covered most of her body and instead had been kidnapped by the doctor. Kelly doubted that anyone had the time to inform him of Onyx or the events there.

"When we clear the landing zone there should be some time on the trip back to fill you in a bit," Kelly offered. She turned back toward where Linda was keeping watch. "We should probably stick to business. We're going to work our way ahead to a landing zone to evac the wounded. We have Prometheans ahead and we don't know where the Covenant forces have gone."

John moved to stand beside Kelly and she could feel his hand touching hers lightly. It was just hanging loosely at his side but the touch meant so much more to a Spartan II than any other soldier could understand. "Do you know what kind of Prometheans are ahead?"

"Knights and crawlers, at least so far." Kelly shifted a bit so her shoulder armor touched his. "I sent Fred back to get more ammunition. I haven't killed a knight yet with bullets so I had no idea if we had enough."

"A knight takes about as much ammunition as a strong elite." John looked toward their touching shoulders but didn't acknowledge it further. "Crawlers are easy but watchers should be targeted first. They can provide shields for knights and crawlers."

"I thought you said you were going to keep it PG." Kelly looked back at Fred as he approached them from behind. Kelly frowned at him from behind her visor at the man. "I got you that extra ammunition." Kelly noted that he held it out to the hand that was touching John's.

Kelly reluctantly moved away from John and took the ammunition, storing it away. "Come on, the longer we wait the more forces might show up."

"We have friendlies heading toward us. Make that fleeing toward us. How many sniper shots do you think it will take to kill one of those knights?" Linda asked.

"Well John says that they are the equivalent of a strong elite so if you get headshots I would say two shots. One for shields one to brain them," Kelly answered.

"John? He's here?" Linda's voice was a mix of surprise and excitement. It was the most emotion that Kelly had heard from the other woman in years. "So you've already reunited with him? Then I missed you two groping each other. How bad was it, Fred?" Kelly stopped herself from betting annoyed with them. They were sort of ruining things with their teasing.

"It was bad. They were touching hands, and shoulders," Fred answered.

"Ew, get a room," Linda teased. Kelly checked the channel and was glad to see that John wasn't on the same team channel yet. She hadn't realized that she'd been speaking to him through their helmet speakers instead of the radio. There were two cracks of sniper rounds. "Yeah, two headshots does the trick."

"Don't' stay still, Linda. They can teleport up to where you are." Kelly turned and started to jog down the path. "Sapphire, include John in on the team COM."

"Am I allowed to talk now?" the AI asked. It was being a smartass but Kelly ignored it. She didn't mind it so she didn't call Sapphire out on the habit. "He's been included."

"How many soldiers do we have under attack?" Kelly ran a bit faster as she heard the sound of assault rifle fire. "What sort of enemy forces?"

"Five marines pinned down at the watch area the Spartan IVs sadly put up and we've got two of the big guys and half a dozen of the lizard things. One of the big ones spit something out of its back. Not that pleasant of a thing to watch," Linda reported. "I'm heading down to meet you three."

The Spartan IIs reached the end of the path and found the five marines huddled behind the sandbags of the watch post. Kelly raced forward, raising her battle rifle. "Sapphire, inform the Commander that there will be more wounded coming in."

"Understood Commander, they have been informed and are ready to receive the wounded," Sapphire announced. "Monitoring for any further friendly forces."

The Spartans raced forward toward the marines to give them cover. Kelly fired with her battle rifle at the closest crawler which had a marine pinned behind the sandbags. The shots collided with the creatures head and it fell apart. She moved ahead of the soldier to give him cover and glanced around at what artillery the Spartan IVs had set up. She spotted one weapon that might come in handy against the larger enemies.

"Chief, grab the rail gun," Kelly ordered. She ignored the odd feeling of giving John an order and focused on one of the crawlers that were charging her. "Sapphire, mark." She knew that the AI would know she meant for it to mark the rail gun for John. The UNSC hadn't had the weapon back during the war so he likely wouldn't recognize it.

Kelly scowled as a blue light shield appeared before the knight she was firing on. She looked up to the odd bug like enemy with what seemed to be wheels for wings. "Target the fliers first," Fred ordered. Kelly raised her sights and fired on the watchers.

It was minuscule but there was a second of hesitation from John before he too turned his shots to the flying enemy. "Sapphire, light up the friend or foe tags." It would be the quickest way to inform John of why there was more than one Spartan giving orders.

The Spartans pushed forward, taking out the watchers first and then targeting the knights. "I've got something odd up ahead. It looks like a…" Linda didn't finish. Kelly moved ahead and looked up the hill ahead of them. She spotted what it was that Linda had seen. The thing looked like a seed on its side and she could see that it was starting to glow. "I think it's a turret."

"John, use the rail gun," Kelly ordered. She ducked behind a rock and she watched him take cover beside him. He looked down at the weapon and then toward Kelly. She knew him well enough to know that John was asking for instructions. "Just hold the trigger, when the charge is full release the trigger and it will fire."

John nodded, moved out from behind the rock. Her raised the gun and a couple seconds later fired. "Turret's down," Linda announced. "We've got more machine guns set up ahead. Don't know what they were thinking when they placed those."

Kelly moved around the rock and moved forward, taking out a few more crawlers before they reached the top of the hill. She looked over to John as he moved to a terminal and removed a chip from his helmet. A purple ball of light appeared and Kelly knew what he'd done, and that it was a bad idea.

"These doors open up into a cave system large enough for an LZ," Cortana announced. There was a bit of static in Kelly's helmet and she could tell that it was Sapphire showing annoyance with another AI trying to communicate with the suits. "Hold them off long enough for me to open the doors."

"Take the turrets," Kelly ordered. She moved to the middle turret, Fred took the turret to her right, and John took the one closest to the terminal on her left. The first of the knights appeared and with the combined fire of Fred and Kelly was gone only seconds later. They controlled the bursts they used against the crawlers and used heavy fire against the knights.

The crawlers came in waves but the knights would come in pairs and were more cunning. They would duck behind cover and teleport away when their shields were gone. Kelly was focusing fire on one knight as a second flashed forward in a near blur. She backed up, her grip still tight on the turret, wrenching it free from its stand. She spun to face the knight and continued to fire until it disintegrated like all the others.

"Cortana, how far are we?" John turned his aim to a pair of crawlers that were trying to jump toward him. The jump really only made them easier targets and Kelly didn't understand why they did it.

The reply that came back from Cortana was fuzzy and sounded distant. "You do your job and I'll do mine, okay?" It was like she was shouting through glass, distant but her anger was obvious. Kelly didn't need to know anything more than what she'd just heard to understand how damaged the Smart AI was. They cleared out a couple more knights before Cortana finally spoke again. "Got it, passageways unlocked. Come and get me."

Kelly knew she should have but she didn't stop him from going over and retrieving the damaged AI. For now it would be better to keep it with them. Proper UNSC protocol demanded that she couldn't just be left behind for the enemy. John retrieved the AI and it almost scared Kelly to let him put it back in his armor. There was no telling what kind of damage a rampant AI could do. "Sapphire, keep Cortana in the suit, out of the systems of _Infinity_."

The doors slid open and the Spartans moved inside. They walked through the single cave, keeping an eye out for any Promethean enemies. Kelly glanced back to John and could see from the way he was moving, the movement of his head, that he was talking to the AI. She waited until he was finished before she stopped and he came to a stop as well. "Next time, we don't use Cortana. We'll use Sapphire." Kelly's voice was stern like she used with the Hell Rabbits when they were in training.

She made it clear that it was an order and that it wasn't acceptable to defy that order.

John watched her for a moment before he spoke. "Is Sapphire safe to use?" There was doubt in his voice and it stung. He doubted her judgment and he was obviously too connected to the AI to see how big of a problem it was. It hurt to know he cared more about the AI then he trusted her judgment.

Kelly decided not to dignify the question with a response. She turned and marched down the cave. She'd deal with Cortana later, for now they had an LZ to clear.


	5. Chapter 4

The Spartans moved through the cave and Kelly brought them to a halt several meters from the cave entrance. She inched forward, scanning the area for enemies. She frowned as she spotted a knight motioning directions to a group of grunts. "We've got knights directing Covenant troops ahead," she reported.

"Why don't the bad guys ever work against each other," Fred muttered. "What kind of enemies?"

"The Covenant fought the Flood on Halo," John interjected. The Spartan IIs were silent for a moment, each one focusing in that moment on their regrets for not having been there to help. "And me if I got too close," he added.

Kelly pushed her regret aside focusing on the current situation. She had many things she wanted to voice to him when she got the chance, her regrets being part of it. "There are a couple knights but mainly grunts and jackals."

"How should we do this?" Linda asked. Kelly made her way back to the others and wasn't surprised to find that Linda had fallen back to old habits and was looking to John. Odd to think that after all these years it would be so easy to fall back into old habits. It had been two years since Kelly had been promoted and been able to give other Spartan IIs orders. Though she was sure that it wouldn't be long after they got off this rock that someone promoted John to Captain and they all started taking orders from him again. There was something that made Kelly feel a bit bitter about that. Sure, what John had done was amazing but any Spartan would have done it. Maybe she was just annoyed that she knew how easily they'd all flock to him and give him whatever recognition they could when she and the other Spartan IIs had needed to work so hard to even become officers, let alone Commanders and with a blink of an eye an Admiral trying to get good press would promote John just to be able to have a photo op with a legendary Spartan.

When Fred didn't speak up Kelly decided to take charge and do what she did best. As her soldiers had put it once she'd run around the battlefield like an idiot. "John, give me the rail gun." She held out her hand and was happy to note that he handed it over without hesitation. She frowned as she realized it wasn't reloaded. Kelly cut the radio channel down to just her and John. "Why didn't you reload? Don't tell me you can pick up a Forerunner weapon and know how to shoot and reload it but you can't reload a human weapon," Kelly teased.

"Didn't get a chance." John's voice was flat and Kelly wasn't sure if he had missed that she was teasing or just didn't feel like it. "Why do you need it?" He was dead serious but there was a hint of concern, unsure of what she had planned.

Kelly switched back to the team channel and gave orders. "I'm going to jackrabbit the knight on the far side. Fred there's a knight near the mouth of the cave you can easily knife. Linda, John, take out the jackals then we'll clear out the grunts." Three lights flashed, a millisecond of hesitation from one but she ignored it. She reloaded the rail gun and moved back toward the mouth of the cave.

The Spartans moved forward and Kelly crouched, preparing to run. She checked that Fred was ready before she took off at a brisk pace. Not full speed but close to it, just slow enough the knight near the entrance would spot her. She made a b line for the far away knight and charged the rail gun. When she reached the other side of the area it was charged and she only had to point and release. The projectile slammed into the knight and it broke apart as the shot punctured through the metal and blasted out the back. She could hear shots from battle rifles behind her and the cries of jackals as they fell. She dodged to the side as she heard beam rifle shots try to catch her.

"Sniper!" Cortana's shout caused static over Kelly's radio. The stats on her HUD went fuzzy for a second before clearing and returning to normal.

"What's going on with the system?" Linda asked.

"The Master Chief's AI is trying to crack through my communication setup. It shouldn't happen again as I have improved and strengthened the system. There is also a phantom heading your way," Sapphire warned. "Ma'am, I'm not quite sure why the AI is trying to do. There is no reason it should be trying to break through my protection for the radio frequencies."

"Noted Sapphire, just keep them strong." Kelly made a few quick jumps and landed on the ridge beside the sniper. It only had time to let out a squawk before Kelly swung the rail gun like a bat and smashed the bird-like alien against the rock wall. "More orders from the Didact?"

"I'm surprised the Didact has managed to unify these Covenant so easily," Cortana observed. "Phantom!" the AI shouted. Kelly wasn't sure how John put up with Cortana shouting in his ear like that.

Kelly was already moving along the ridge after having spotted the phantom coming in, not to mention the large arrow on her HUD. "Sapphire, have I ever told you how thankful I am you're quiet?" Kelly peeked out as the sides of the phantoms opened and Covenant dropped out.

"You have at least one working eye you can see enemies for yourself," Sapphire stated. "I only inform you of what has not yet been seen or what can't be seen."

"Slaughter house," Fred announced. Kelly knew what he meant, she'd heard plenty of Demon Fists call out the plan when working with the Rabbits. She sprinted back to the rock and moved in the way of John as he headed around his cover. She held up a hand and John stopped obediently.

"What are you doing?" Cortana demanded. Kelly ignored the comment and waited until she heard two sniper shots before lowering her hand. "You've given the Covenant time to flank us!" From the fact there was no reaction from John Kelly guessed the AI had only talked to her.

"Headshot grunts," she instructed before grabbing her battle rifle and moving around the cover. She came out just in time to find a grunt fleeing toward them. One burst and the small alien crumpled to the ground.

Kelly looked over to see Fred moving across the field, energy sword in hand. Linda had shot the original owner down with two rounds allowing Fred to do what he did best, wreak havoc at close range. He moved to a couple of jackals, motions precise and fluent. His foot moved so his toed were behind the closest jackal's shield and he slid his foot across the ground, forcing the shield out of the way. The blade struck forward through the enemy's chest in a clean kill. Fred pulled the blade free and before the body could hit the ground he kicked it toward the second jackal. The impact caused the second jackal's shield to be knocked to the side enough that with one clean strike the jackal was cut in two.

The Spartans mopped up the remaining grunts and secured the area. "Commander Lasky, area is clear," John reported.

" _This is Captain Del Rio_. Infinity _is under attack. All forces are to return to defend the ship_." The signal was a bit faint but the message was clear. The ship was under attack and it was bad enough they needed everyone on hand.

" _We've for a pelican inbound for you_ ," Lasky announced. " _Hop on and head to the ship. Well catch up._ "

Kelly looked up as the pelican descended and moved toward it. John followed behind her as they moved for the LZ. He sped up enough to walk beside her, a conscious move that allowed his hand to brush hers every couple steps. He looked to the rail gun on her back. "Why haven't you reloaded?"

Kelly was a bit surprised by the question. He was obviously echoing her tease from earlier but it was just unusual for him. "I think it makes a better cudgel," Kelly answered.

The pelican landed and Kelly moved around to the back as the ramp lowered and she boarded. She took a seat and wasn't that surprised when John sat down beside her out of habit. What did surprise her was that he moved his leg so their knees were touching. Fred sat across from her and Linda beside him. The rear of the pelican closed and they took off.

"What's the chain of command here?" John finally asked, looking around at the others. "Whose commands do I follow above whose?"

"There isn't really one person in charge, John." Fred answered. "We don't usually work together in the field any more. This is the first time in months we've even all been on _Infinity_. That's only because we knew this was a forerunner location."

"I don't think the original plan was to deploy us as Blue Team, though, rather with our companies. Guess you got lucky, again." Linda looked to John and Kelly knew she was smiling. John had always been lucky and maybe his luck had been the reason why Blue had been sent out as a team this time. Maybe it was even what had caused Kelly to go back for ammunition which allowed her to meet up with John before they moved on. Either way things were the way they were, and luck of the past didn't mean there would be luck in the future.

"The best way to deal with all of us giving orders is to just follow them as they come," Fred advised. "Though if I give you an order and Kelly tells you not to go, listen to her. Sapphire has likely picked up something I don't know about."

"Sure, that's why he should listen to Kelly first," Linda muttered. "It's not at all because once they get out of that armor we won't want to go near her room for at least a week."

John nodded but ignored Linda. He turned to Kelly a bit hesitantly. "Is your AI safe?" The question annoyed Kelly a bit, but at least his hesitation made it clear that he knew the question was going to annoy her.. She couldn't believe he'd think she'd go walking around with bad equipment. She set aside that annoyance as she at least got the feeling that this time the question was more out of concern than defensiveness like before. "It doesn't sound like it's in better shape than Cortana."

Kelly was going to correct him but Sapphire beat her to it. "I have only been in service for two years. The way I speak is of my own choosing not caused by rampancy," Sapphire explained.

"The day Sapphire speaks in one voice is the day I delete it and requisition a new one." Kelly had never been shy about destroying Sapphire when the time came and the AI never took offense. John turned his gaze to the floor and they sat in silence for a moment. "What is the Didact?"

John turned to look to her, visibly a bit tensed then a moment ago. "The Didact is a Forerunner. It controls the Prometheans and is leading the Covenant now. The large sphere that's scanning Infinity is his ship."

Kelly considered the information. She didn't know what to think of a living Forerunner. That wasn't really something that seemed possible. "For now we focus on defending _Infinity_. Doesn't matter if there's a live Forerunner if we lose our ride out of here."

The Spartans slipped into silence and Kelly wondered how far away they were from _Infinity_. She was about to ask Sapphire when John spoke up. "What have I missed?"

Kelly waited for Fred or Linda to speak up but realized he was only talking to her. She looked over to him and frowned. "The war, the Covenant, or we Spartans? I don't think we have time on this ride for all three."

John took a moment to decide which choice. "Tell me what I've missed in your life." His leg shifted just a bit to push against her knee.

Kelly smiled, deciding where to start. "Well Doctor Halsey took me to a planet called Onyx. It's a shield world like this place, We got there and I found out about the Spartan IIIs. I'll explain them to you later but for now it doesn't matter. The Covenant showed up and the sentinels of the planet started to attack us and we eventually took shelter inside the planet. We were in there for a few seeks but it was three months outside of the planet. We were eventually found and brought out. We beat down some rebellions. We started working with the Spartan IV project and eventually I started the Hell Rabbits. A group that hits enemies hard and fast then gets gone. I became a Commander about two years, after both Linda and Fred, but the Hell Rabbits are always growing and are out in the field on their own now."

There was silence for a moment before John spoke. "You have your own company of specially trained rabbits?" Kelly nodded. "You trained them yourself?" She nodded again. There was a pause before John spoke again. "Can we make sure they're the ones backing us up?"

Kelly smiled at the vote of confidence. "When we get onto the ship and away from combat I'm going to hug you so tight." Her hand moved over and brushed his lightly.

"Ma'am, I have some things you'll wish to be informed of. First, the others are currently engaged in an conversation in which they are joking about your open affection with the Master Chief and comparing it to public sex. I would advised that you refrain from excessive contact." Kelly frowned at the information but otherwise ignored it. "Second, we are nearing _Infinity_ and there are ground troops already engaged. They're fours and they could likely use your help." The AI wasn't trying to insult the IVs but it had, sort of. It might have just meant that the IVs were just overrun by enemies or pinned down by a tank for all they knew.

"All right, enough catching up and jokes about other people's sexual activities in public. We've got Covenant and Prometheans to kill." Kelly stood and the others stood as well and they prepared to repel the attack on _Infinity_.


	6. Chapter 5

The rear of the pelican opened as it neared the ground. The Spartans all stood at the ready, weapons in hand. As soon as it was low enough they moved forward as one unit. No orders, no words, just gunfire as they cleared out a group of grunts and jackals that were attacking the Spartan IVs near the landing zone. They were easy and Kelly enjoyed Blue Team working together like the old days. It only took the four Spartans a few seconds to clear out the enemies.

Kelly looked over the area, nodding to the Spartan IVs who all seemed to stare at John. She couldn't blame him. He stuck out like a sore thumb in his odd armor. Kelly spotted a tank and looked around for the other things he needed. She grinned as she found it. "Who's up for a little Rabbit-hog?"

"I call gunning," Linda moved toward the Warthog's turret. Kelly watched as Fred moved toward the tank as well to take the turret position.

"You'll have to tell me what a Rabbit-hog is," John pointed out. "You keep using all these terms and I don't know what any of them are."

"You'll learn them all, John. We've just been running these plans with our teams for some time." Kelly completely understood that it would be difficult for a trained soldier to come in and find out that things had changed a lot.

"You have a lot to catch me up on about that," John glanced toward the Spartan IVs. "I do want to know more about these companies you keep talking about. Though you should tell me the plan first."

"The story about the companies is a long one, so you'll have to wait till we've repelled the attack on _Infinity_. Rabbit-hog is when you get in that tank, I get in the hog, and lure vehicle toward the tank so you can blow them up," Kelly explained. "Hell Rabbits do it all the time with other units. Covenant is particularly stupid enough to fall for it."

"That seems dangerous," John glanced toward the tank then back to Kelly. "If you met a wraith it could destroy you and Linda with one hit. Is there no safer plan?"

"Let her go get herself killed." Cortana's voice broke as she hissed out the words.

"Cortana!" John tensed just a bit, Kelly knew it was more because he was worried then mad at the AI. He looked to Kelly, maybe worried about how she would react to the AI's words.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean that." There was regret in Cortana's voice though Kelly wasn't sure how much she trusted it. Maybe it was just because her AI couldn't lie to her that way; make its voice sound however it wanted. So much of AIs could just be a lie it was why she got along with Sapphire. The AI didn't try to make her feel a way, only involuntary actions gave away emotion and that never really affected Kelly much.

John slung his rifle over his back and it attached to his back. "I've got your back, Kelly. I trust to you be able to avoid any wraiths. Just keep your ears open." John turned and moved toward the tank to do his part. Kelly smiled behind her visor, happy to have his trust. She turned and moved to the driver's seat of the warthog.

Kelly hit the gas and they started to move over toward _Infinity_. The jeep bounced over the uneven ground. Linda opened fire on a pair of grunts. Kelly swerved to the side as a pair of ghosts sped toward them. She spun the jeep around and headed back toward the tank that was nearing. She moved out of the way at the last moment and the tank fired. The ghost behind her exploded. She moved around the back of the tank and saw the second vehicle be blown apart.

"Fred, I think I've found my partner for Rabbit-hog. You're officially fired," Kelly moved back on down the path to find more enemies.

"You were partnered with Fred?" There was a hint of something to John's voice but Kelly wouldn't dare assume that it was jealousy. Though that was her best guess.

"Only when blue team was around for Rabbit-hog, which honestly is only in training." Kelly moved the warthog around so that Linda could easily fire on a pack of jackals. "Got to work with what you've got."

"I Think I should be insulted," Fred muttered. "Could you leave something for me to shoot or should I just take a nap?"

"Sniper tower," Kelly announced. She sped up and passed by it, knowing that John would be able to hit it easily. Linda fired on a group of jackals at the base of the sniper tower to keep them pinned down. Kelly heard the shot and the sniper tower explode into debris. Kelly swerved to the side and barely missed a ghost as it rounded a corner. "Ghost heading your way." She moved out of the way of a second one and sped past them. She hit the brakes hard and spun the wheel as she spotted the alien tank. "Wraith!"

The wraith turned toward them and Kelly hit the gas to try to move out of the way, keep it from getting a shot. The lines of her HUD went fuzzy and her HUD went dark. "Sapphire!" There was no reply but she gunned the gas. Kelly reached up and tore the helmet from her head, tossing it to the floor of the passenger's side. She looked around and spotted the Wraith as it fired. It hit just a few feet away from the warthog. Kelly spun the wheel to head back the way they'd gone and avoid the fire from the plasma turret. The controls on the warthog went dead as an overcharged shot from a plasma pistol hit their vehicle. Shots from the plasma turrets splashed over the side of the hog and Kelly was hit twice on her arm by the fire. Without her helmet her shields were down and plasma burned the metal of her armor and her skin below.

"Out!" Linda shouted as she jumped down from the warthog's gun. Kelly grabbed her helmet and jumped out of the passenger's side of the warthog. She rolled when she hit the ground and sprang to her feet. The ghost turned toward them and Kelly charged it. She boarded the ghost and slammed her helmet into the grunt's skull, causing the body to fly from the vehicle and allow her to take the alien's place. Kelly placed her helmet in her lap and hit sped off in the ghost away from the wraith.

Kelly gunned it toward the tank and moved around the back, stopping a few meters behind it. She watched as the tank fired and the wraith erupted into fire. Kelly slipped her helmet back on to check the systems. Her HUD came back to life and everything seemed fine. "Sapphire, what happened?"

What surprised her was a small screen with Cortana's avatar appeared. "I'm sorry, that was my fault. I didn't mean to shut your system down. I didn't think it would do that." Kelly didn't know if the words were honest but they sounded that way. Kelly was fairly sure though at this point that the AI was rampant enough she couldn't really fake those sort of things. "I didn't want to put the strain on John's suit and I thought yours could handle it."

Kelly checked over her HUD and saw that everything was fine. She checked Linda's bio-stats and saw that they were still strong so she was fine. "How much damage would it have done to John's system?"

"It would have knocked it out for at least several minutes. Yours was back up and running in ten seconds," Cortana informed her.

Kelly sighed and activated the ghost again. "Then I guess it's fine." Kelly would have rather had her system taken down where she could take off her helmet freely unlike inside the tank. Besides it was better to have the tank operator to cover you than only a warthog when a wraith was involved. Kelly hit the radio. "How's the warthog?"

"It's been destroyed. Distracted the wraith long enough for it to be taken care of," Fred reported. "You all right? You fell out of contact."

"Small problem with the equipment. I think it had something to do with Sapphire's attempts to crack the Forerunner signals." It was a lie but she knew John was listening and she didn't want him to know what had really happen. "Not a problem. Linda can snipe from the tank and I'll run rabbit in the ghost."

"No," John asserted. "Defend the rear of the tank and we'll move forward." Kelly thought of arguing, of telling him he couldn't order her but she didn't. She knew he'd been worried about her being hit by a wraith and after having verified his fears she supposed she shouldn't push it now. Not to mention she didn't want to risk being in a ghost and having her system go out again.

"I've got your six," she finally agreed reluctantly. "Sapphire, have you had any luck with that Forerunner communication tap?" She moved behind the tank and kept an eye out but there wasn't really much of a threat in a situation like this. John would be able to see all enemies ahead and would easily be able to clear them out. The likelihood that anything would be able to attack from behind was minimal.

"No luck with trying to crack it. I also do not appreciate being blamed for the actions of another AI," Sapphire added. "I have reworked the system's capacity load so that if the other AI does that again it won't cause the system to shut down."

"Thank you, Sapphire." As long as it didn't shut down her systems she was willing to take the blow from Cortana rather than have John's systems go down. Kelly watched John's back as he moved forward along the path though it was as uneventful on her end as she had expected. She could hear the sounds of ghost and wraiths being hit and eventually they moved down a ram toward a large elevator that would care the tank up into the ship. Kelly abandoned her ghost at this point and climbed aboard the tank, taking her place on the cover of one of the treads.

The tank rose up into _Infinity_ and Kelly looked over to see that there were Covenant inside. John opened fire on them with the tank, blasting away the hunters Kelly sat back and just enjoyed watching John as he fired on the Covenant. She slid down from her position and looked over the area, making sure there weren't any crawlers hiding. There was nothing.

" _Spartans this is Captain Del Rio. Lasky radioed and told me about the extra you picked up. At least that's one mission done. Now we need to focus on the satellite that's attacking us. It's taken down our defenses and is still scanning our systems. We need it removed."_ Del Rio's voice was obviously annoyed.

"Can we break the connection?" Fred asked.

" _The main connection is on the upper hall. There's a maintenance causeway nearby. Take the Mantis docked inside. You'll need the extra fire power._ " With that the communication shut off.

"What's a Mantis?" John moved out of the tank and moved over to Kelly as Fred and Linda approached her. They stared to move toward the passage that was indicated on their HUD.

"It's a robotic suit with rocket and machine gun arms," Fred informed him. "I'll take it since Linda doesn't like the lack of accuracy, it's too slow for Kelly, and you have no idea how to work one."

John nodded and they moved into the passage. Kelly hung back and John stayed beside her, allowing Fred to move forward and hit the controls. The Mantis rose up and Fred climbed in. "That's a Mantis," Kelly informed him. She looked around the area and moved down a side ramp. "I've got rocket launchers down here." She grabbed both of them and moved back to Linda and John, passing one to John. "We'll cover his back." John nodded and took the weapon.

The Spartans stood back as Fred moved the Mantis forward and fired on the hanger door to the passage, breaking it open. Once the doors had been blown apart Fred moved the Mantis down the ramp. The Spartans followed as it walked and fired on Covenant that were milling around the area. Linda made a motion and pointed toward a catwalk that ran along the upper edge of the pathway. Kelly nodded and they moved over to it.

The Spartans hung back a bit and allowed Fred to do his thing, using the Mantis to clear the passageway. The mech was easily powerful enough to take care of anything that got in its way so the Spartans were more looking back down the way they'd come. "I got an update from Kelly about what she's been doing. How have you been, Linda?"

Linda stared down the scope of her sniper rifle, focusing on the path behind Fred. "Much the same as Kelly, except without the pining. Stuck in Onyx, found, the whole thing with the retirement and forcing our way back in. Now I've got my assassination sniper teams that I train."

Kelly inwardly cursed, knowing that she hadn't told John about exactly what had happened with the Spartan IV project. John turned toward Kelly and she sighed. "I'll explain it to you later."

"Short version is: having the fact you're a six year old kidnap victim that only ever knows being a soldier looks bad for the program. Luckily if you show them you've got something they can't pass up, you can keep yourself around." Linda turned and moved down the catwalk, following the Mantis.

John continued to stare at Kelly and she knew he was asking for an explanation. "We get that thing off our hull first, and then I'll tell you about it." Kelly didn't really want to think about that time, but she'd explain it to him if he wanted. She preferred to think of the UNSC as the loyal group who wanted her to survive like she'd been told, not the organization that had treated them like a problem at that time.

They just followed the Mantis until it reached an elevator to get to the outer hull of the ship. The Spartans jumped down and joined Fred on the elevator. "You enjoy that thing way too much," Linda remarked.

"I do enjoy the Mantis," Fred agreed. "At least I have more etiquette than the IVs."

" _Spartans, it's Lasky,_ " Kelly was at least glad to hear the Commander's voice. He seemed to be fine if not in combat mode.

"Go commander," Fred replied shifting the Mantis a bit so that it was turned back toward the door that would open up into the outer hull.

" _We've identified several Covenant jamming devices on the outer hull,_ " he informed them. " _It's most likely what's keeping the_ Infinity _systems off line. Take them out so we can get our COMMs back on line._ "

"We're on it, commander," Fred reported. "I'll take care of one if you three can take care of the others," Fred proposed. "Hope you didn't waste any shots."

"How could we have? You didn't even leave us something to shoot," Kelly shot back. She moved to the door and readied her launcher. It slid open and they moved forward down the passageway. She could see John out of the corner of her eye, moving with her and she made sure to stay at a pace he could match. The door to the outer hull opened and Kelly looked out at the space. There were defense cannons and she could see the jammers set near each. She took aim and fired, the rocket streaking through the air and slamming into the jammer. She fired a second rocket and it did the trick, causing the device to explode into fire. She moved out of the way and the Mantis moved forward to take out the middle jammer. The third and final jammer was already destroyed by the times he looked over.

Kelly and John reloaded and there were four shots from Linda and an elite and two jackals fell. Kelly switched out to her battle rifle and focused on the jackals and grunts down below. "Jammers down," Sapphire announced. Kelly looked up to see the defense guns move and target a series of Phantoms that were coming in. Fred took aim at banshees and the Spartans moved to attack the troops that disembarked from the phantom.

" _The rate at which that thing is scanning our systems just doubled. I think they know what you're up to,_ " Del Rio informed them.

"Only a few more minutes," Cortana announced. Kelly had just started to ignore it, though the bit of static on her HUD was annoying. She fired on the grunts and jackals as they came into her sights.

The Spartans cleared the area out before Del Rio finally radioed them again. " _Captain Del Rio to Blue team, we're reading MAC network back on line but our EM relays are malfunctioning. You'll have to initiate the link manually._ "

Kelly moved toward the controls, sweeping the area for anything that might still be around to attack them. Fred climbed out of the Mantis and they stood beside the controls. John hit the panel and the main MAC gun before them fired, hitting the Didact's ship. The sphere backed away and sped off over the lands.

The Spartans stood and Kelly didn't really listen to announcement that things were clear. She didn't understand how a Forerunner could be pushed back so easily. They made the Halos, the Ark, and this world. Something about it all just felt wrong to her.

"You want to catch me up?" John asked. Kelly looked to him and sighed. Kelly nodded and they turned, heading back into the ship.


	7. Chapter 6

The Spartans moved through the maintenance passage, stepping around the dead Covenant. "So what do you want me to explain first?" Kelly asked eyeing a grunt that looked like it was sitting up. It was dead but it was better to be safe than just assume everything had been killed. Grunts were known for being cowards and she wouldn't count out them playing possum.

"Linda said something about retirement and forcing your way back in. I'd like to know more about that." It didn't surprise Kelly that he had focused on that and it was still at the front of his thought.

"Not particularly good times to remember," Fred spoke up. "After the war ended the truth about the Spartan program came out. Six-year-old kids taken from their homes, made into soldiers, and augmented. It didn't do well with the public and ONI was getting a lot of trouble for it. The people were questioning what secrets there might be about the Spartan IVs."

"In the end the UNSC decided that the best option was for them to pretend they gave us a choice to leave the military and that we took it. Basically force us into retirement," Linda continued. Her voice held a hint of the resentment that they all felt toward the events. "We understand they were just trying to protect the UNSC's reputation and keep people from backing out of the Spartan IV project, but they didn't actually give us a choice."

"That reminds me, you can have access to your file, the one with all the information about you from when you were born to your entire service record even notes on you during training," Kelly inserted.

"Did any of you look at yours?" John asked.

Fred and Linda shook their heads. He looked to Kelly and she frowned behind her helmet. "There was nothing in them that would interest me."

"So they tried to make you retire, what did you do?" It was obvious in John's voice that he was struggling to understand the UNSC not standing with the Spartans after all they'd always been told that the UNSC stood but its own. "You obviously didn't retire."

"We had to do something a bit out there. The first step was making friends with Commander Palmer, the easiest step," Linda explained. "She and Kelly are really close friends and Palmer is basically a Kelly fan which meant that she was eager to help us out, and keep it quiet. Not to mention what we were doing would boost the Spartan IVs. We figured it would them to shoot for something more but Palmer believed that if we were still around then the Spartan IVs would have a living legacy that they had to match and it would motivate them."

"So we trained our special teams and they went out into combat. They would even refer to themselves as part of those specialized ranks whenever they would do something that involved the training. Eventually the UNSC noticed and they tried to stop it but the soldiers continued. Those that were under our command were proud and didn't want to stop being a part of it," Kelly explained.

"Eventually they relented. Linda was the first of ours to be acknowledged after they completed an assassination job without getting anywhere near the compound. The UNSC made them into actual squads of snipers and Linda was promoted to Commander to direct them in combat. My soldiers were acknowledged about three years ago after a long standing record of Demon Fists going into buildings, killing everything without alerting anyone and being able to steal information or whatever they were trying to get. I was then promoted me to a Commander to direct their deployments and help in the field," Fred explained. "By making us Commanders it meant that we were basically working in parallel with the main Spartan IV group. Palmer had to request soldiers from us and it meant that we had authority over any Spartan IVs we might have needed to give orders to in the field."

John turned to Kelly. "What about you?"

Kelly frowned, not really sure how he would take it. "I had to do something rather drastic. I ran out of way to keep them from discharging me and I was running out of time. I gathered the Hell Rabbits, got on a ship, faked some orders, went to a planet of rebels, and spend a week with the Hell Rabbits taking down a large organization of rebels by killing their leaders." Kelly braced for his reaction to her actions but it never came. He was just silent, waiting for more. "After we painted our logo all over the place on our missions they couldn't really ignore us. They now make sure teams have at least one Hell Rabbit and sometimes I'm sent into combat with them on big missions. They really only promoted me because they promoted the others." Kelly left out the fact that she had kept their record excellent as she was still on the hit list of a few officers who were looking to find any reason to demote her or kick her out. While they couldn't argue against how the offensive had been successful they didn't like the initiative or the fact that it had sort of ruined a few of ONI's plans.

"How'd you end up with an AI?" John seemed a bit uneasy as he asked the question. Maybe he was worried that they'd given Sapphire to her to replace Cortana and was a sign they were replacing him. The UNSC had made it clear that they had wanted the Spartan IIs gone. Kelly only hoped John wouldn't have to fight to stay like they had, try to force him into retirement. At least with his record he might be able to leverage staying.

"They gave me Sapphire because the Hell Rabbits often gets into places where there is a lot of information and we need to extract it fast. An AI can do it easily and we make a lot of gain with it. They got the idea because when we made the attack on the planet we had to pass up some computers full of information because it would take too long. If we'd had an AI, it wouldn't have."

John nodded , accepting the information. "Is there anything else that we should know?"

"Not that I can think of, Chief." Fred stopped as they reached the main hanger. "I'm going to see if they could use some extra muscle moving those hunters." With that he moved off to help the Spartan IVs.

"I'm heading to medical. Something got into my arm and it's annoying me. I'm going to see if someone can pull it out." Linda nodded to them and moved off.

Kelly turned and motioned for John to follow her. "I'll show you where the bridge is. I know that the Captain will want to ask you all about the Prometheans. I'm sure we'll all get some questions but you were here before us. Not to mention a report on what happened before we found you." Kelly led them into one of the hallways and John walked beside her.

"Are you going to tell me what happened back there?" Kelly frowned, not really sure what he was talking about. When John stopped she stopped as well. "You said there was a wraith and then you suddenly dropped out of contact. What happened?"

Kelly really hadn't thought about how it would have looked from where John had been. To his credit he's remained a proper Spartan the entire time, focused on the enemies, but that was what they were trained to do. They were trained to put their emotions to the side for missions like repelling an invasion. "It was nothing," Kelly finally said. "Just a bit of equipment malfunction. Everything is fine, though I will have to get a few plates of my armor replaced." She looked down to the partially melted plates on her arm.

"Next time…we should use a safer plan." Kelly frowned at his words. She knew he didn't mean to insult her abilities as a soldier, or her job as a rabbit, but he had. She knew he'd just been worried, and didn't want it to happen again, but she kept quiet and just nodded. He didn't know why it had really happened, and for now she'd keep it to herself. Things were already hard enough with a living Forerunner, AI enemies, and the Covenant. John didn't need to be worried about the trouble his rampant AI was causing as well. What he said next actually surprised her. "I just got you back, I'm not ready to lose you again."

Kelly was struck by the words for a moment. It was a very open thing for John to say, though maybe all that had happen had made him a bit tired and for this moment his walls were down even though they weren't locked away from any prying eye. Kelly took a step toward him and her arms wrapped around his neck. John's arms wrapped around her waist loosely in the closest hug they could get while in armor. "I missed you, John."

John tightened his grip just a bit on her. "I missed you too, Kelly. I missed all the Spartans but I missed you a bit more. I never thought I'd see any of you again and I don't think I have words for how happy I am to see you all again." He pulled away a bit and Kelly knew there was more they wanted to do, but they couldn't. "Can I ask you something?" Kelly nodded. "Why didn't you retire? Go to Earth, be safe and enjoy the peace? They would have found me and we could have…"

Kelly didn't know what to say right away. She sighed and shook her head. "There isn't really peace, John. The Covenant is split between ignoring us and wanting to kill us, rebellions are still around, and we're always keeping an eye out for forerunner planets." Kelly moved one of her hands to touch the side of his helmet. "Besides, I needed something to take my mind off of things."

John moved a hand up to her hand on his helmet. "You could have taken up a hobby," he suggested. "Maybe knitting."

Kelly shook her head and moved her arms from around his neck. She took a step back, knowing that if she didn't put distance between them she might do something stupid. "The Captain is waiting for you." She motioned down the hallway. "Just go to the elevator and it's level E," she instructed.

"I've never met this Captain before. Any tips for dealing with him?" John asked, though Kelly knew he was just stalling. He didn't want her to leave and she had to admit she didn't want to leave him either but they had things they needed to do.

"He's been a good Captain so far. He's not a daredevil so he's not as outgoing as Keys but he's done well so far. I have no idea how he's handling this sort of stressful situation as _Infinity_ has never had to deal with anything like this before," Kelly explained. "So no, I have no words of advice because I have no idea how he is, though he sounded stressed over the radio. I'd wish you luck, John, but you don't need it." Kelly put the palm side of her fingers against her helmet where he mouth was and then repeated the action on John's helmet.

Kelly turned and moved back down the hallway to head to the labs. She could get replacement armor pieces for those that were burned. "You know you were wrong," Sapphire spoke up.

"What was I wrong about?" Kelly had sort of not realized that Sapphire was listening. She wasn't sure how she felt about that. She didn't feel like another person had overheard or seen them, which would have made her feel uncomfortable and panic, but Sapphire might report back to command.

"You were wrong in why I was given to you," Sapphire elaborated. "I was assigned to be given to a Spartan II to keep an eye on you. I chose you."

"Why?" Kelly didn't know how she felt about being chosen to be paired with the AI. She didn't dislike having the AI but it made her question matters, and made her more concerned that Sapphire would turn her in. If the AI had been assigned to watch her, probably for slip ups, then a relationship with another Spartan would be a big slip-up. Though maybe she was looking too much into it. A hug from normal soldiers was nothing but for a Spartan it was something that Kelly would have only ever done with John.

"I chose you for two reasons. One, the reason that you stated, that I could assist with gathering data. Two, because you would be the one who wouldn't get attached," Sapphire explained. "I am equipment, and I know that while I work with you that you will know one day I will have to be replaced, that all I do is because of programing, and that I will always put the mission first. This is why I can tell you I was originally meant to watch you, because you would not fault me for this, you would understand that these were orders I was given."

"I'm not upset with you for it. You didn't make that choice, though at the moment, I wish that you could make that choice." Kelly turned entered the lab and started to make her way through to the station where there were armor pieces.

"Well, it is my choice what is worthy of reporting. Other than the actions of the Hell Rabbits and the teams I have not yet found anything that I consider worthy of reporting back," Sapphire replied. "I may report that Blue Team seems to still be excellent in combat together but I don't see what else I would report. Your personally relationships with the other Spartans does not seem to effect anything in combat so it is not of importance."

Kelly smiled a bit. Not only because it meant Sapphire would stay quiet but because its reasoning was sound. "Thank you for the information, Sapphire." Kelly stopped beside a technician. "I need some replacement armor." She held up her arm so he could see the burnt plates.

The technician made a few notes. "All right, ma'am. We'll get those right out if you'll just wait a moment." He turned away and moved to a computer to retrieve the parts.

Kelly moved over to a holotank and hesitated for a second. "Sapphire, I'm going to take you out of my armor for a little while. I just need to have a private conversation," Kelly informed the AI.

"I will await re-insertion, ma'am," Sapphire replied, ever the obedient AI.

Kelly pulled the chip out of her helmet and activated the terminal. "Cortana, we need to talk." The AI appeared, frowning at her. "I'm allowing you inside my suit and have removed Sapphire to insure that you two don't contact."

The AI softened a bit and crossed her arms. "What do you want to talk about?" The mouth of the avatar didn't move so Kelly assumed the voice was only in her helmet.

"I need to know how much of a threat you are to John in his armor." Kelly was concerned about the effect of the AI on the system after what it had done to her systems. John's armor wasn't only old but it wasn't really repaired after the Ark, meaning that it alone was enough of a risk to be using let alone a rampant AI inside of it.

"Why do you assume that I'm a risk," Cortana snapped, her voice uneven like it had been when she'd shouted about the door. "You're more of a risk. Distracting him in combat and giving him orders. He works better when he leads."

Kelly frowned not really at the avatar but the AI's words. "I know about rampant AI, you can't function properly as the pathways in your matrix are destroyed, which means that if John puts his trust in you to, say open a door, you might fail him," Kelly explained. "I can't let you make a mistake like that and cost him his life. I know John is used to leading but he's more used to following the chain of command, which unfortunately right now he's at the bottom of. He's free to make suggestions but he's not going to be happy taking the lead from three commanders." Kelly knew John well enough that it would cause him more trouble and make him unsettled to break his training like not following the chain of command.

"I am not a threat to him. I would never threaten him," Cortana asserted, just a hint of a fearful tone to her voice. "You have no idea what I've been through with him. I'd never harm him."

"I have no idea what you've been through? I've fought alongside John since I was six, his best friend and more." Kelly knew that Cortana likely already knew about how close she and John were. "I have fought against unbeatable odds with that man, watched as world after world has been glassed. I've been the person he leans on when he needed someone, and been the one who has comforted him when his resolve weakened. You have no idea what a real hard fight is. What happened with the Halo, the Ark, there was no rest, just the next fight and you had success. The harder fight for a Spartan is the long, hopeless fight that happened before Reach. Losing planets, good people, not being able to save anyone, and the long waits between battles that let you think over how you're losing. Don't tell me I don't know what a hard fight you've been through, because I've been through the harder one and I've always been by his side." Kelly's words were forceful, making it clear that there was no space to argue with her words.

Cortana didn't say anything right away. She stared at Kelly and finally sighed. "I would never harm John. I want only to protect him." She looked away and down. "I know that I am failing." The AI's avatar put her hand against her temple. "I know that I am a danger. I should have known that signal was false but I fell for it. I'm the reason why the Didact was released." There was a look of pain on the AI's face and her voice became soft. "You know I thought he could save me. I thought that my neural pathways could be rebuilt if we could get to Halsey."

Kelly sighed and shook her head. "You know that's not true. I don't know what you think but the way you were made, Cortana, was illegal and it will never be allowed to be repeated. You know that the damage can't be fixed. Why would you give him false hope like that?"

"I know, I shouldn't have mentioned it, but I wanted the hope myself." Cortana lowered her hand and Kelly could see that there was an almost human look on the avatar's face. Kelly knew it was just a lie, it was the AI thinking it was human, an unintentional manifestation of its disintegrating mind. "Do you really think I'm a threat to him?"

"That door shouldn't have been a problem for you to open. The things you did to my armor, those seem to be a risk to him," Kelly reasoned. "If you're going to risk his safety then I can't allow him to continue to carry you."

Cortana shook her head. "I will admit that opening doors and such activities are a bit harder but what happened with your suit will never happen again. I was trying to connect his suit to your networking but when I met with the buffers and barriers that your AI had set up, they created a fluctuation in my programming in John's suit and I pushed it off through the channel that was already established between the armors. The programing that your AI is using is like nothing I've seen from human equipment, I just wasn't ready for it. I got back so many errors and retaliation programs from the communication's line I just panicked and shunted it to your suit's systems. I didn't know it would cause the systems to crash, I swear it." The AI looked to her, pleading. "Please, I only want to protect him. I promise to stick to just his suit, only allow your AI to make connections."

Kelly wasn't sure. She wasn't sure how much of what Cortana was saying were rampant delusions and how much of it was true. She figured though that she didn't want to fight John on it and he would only be mad at her if she tried to argue that the AI needed to be left behind. She understood that he didn't want to leave teammates behind any more, too many of them lost when they were left behind, but she still worried about how much trust John was putting in the AI. "For now he can continue to carry you, but I want to be clear on something. If you don't think you'll be able to handle a task, like opening a door, then we're going to use Sapphire. If you, at any point, think your rampancy will cause him harm in any way, you tell me. If I feel that you're doing anything that threatens his life I will protect him from you."

Cortana loosely hugged her arms around herself. "I understand. I don't want to put him in danger, and I'll leave time sensitive tasks to your AI," Cortana agreed.

"Cortana, listen very carefully to me. Red Flag has been terminated, so you no longer have to follow that mission. I'm going to give you a new one. You're one and only mission is to protect John, not matter what. Even if that means giving your life to save him. Keeping the Master Chief is your mission above all else." Kelly paused for a moment before she continued. "That man means more to me than you could ever understand. I know you may think you may care about him the same, but you don't. I've known him all my life, he's the one good thing that brings me peace, a piece of me, and I would gladly throw myself in the way to save him. His survival is all that matters to me. I love him, and I will not accept failure in your mission." Her voice was dead serious, cold and dangerous. "Am I clear?"

Cortana nodded. "Absolutely, Commander. I will protect him."

Kelly was satisfied that she meant it. "Oh, and next time, if you have to shut down someone's armor, try not to shut down the armor of the person driving," Kelly added. "That will be all." She turned away from the terminal and moved toward the station where they would replace her armor. Kelly slipped the chip back into her helmet. She moved over to the device and held her arm out.

"Did you enjoy your chat? I hope it was productive." Sapphire's voice was flat as usual but Kelly could tell that it genuinely hoped that the conversation had achieved something. It was one of the good things about Sapphire. When it came to business it didn't joke around and the sarcastic comment was rare. It gave her a feeling of trust that AI was being honest that she didn't have with the ones that pretended to be human or acted like humans.

"I believe it was. Has John finished his meeting with the captain? I know you were listening in." Kelly felt the equipment attach to her armor and they removed the ruined parts.

"I may have had a small ear in the room. They are going to make an attack to destroy the gravity well. I suspect you want Blue Team to be a part of this mission. I have already added them to the list of forces being deployed," Sapphire informed her.

The armor parts snapped into place and Kelly retracted her arm. She nodded to the techs before the turned and walked out of the lab. "Inform Blue Team. Tell them that we're meeting in thirty. We can catch up and John can tell us his story."

"Understood, Commander," Sapphire confirmed. Kelly moved out of the lab and toward the hangar.


	8. Chapter 7

The Spartans sat a bit away from where the soldiers were prepping pelicans. The members of Blue Team were all listening intently as John recounted to them what had happened since they'd last seen him. "I made a run for it in a ghost and barely made it through the portal in time. I ended up coming out in the area where _Infinity_ was. I saw it crashing and then the Didact's ship headed toward _Infinity_ and I headed that way as well. I made contact with Lasky and found my way to him," John finished.

The Spartans were all silent for a moment before Fred spoke up. "So you accidentally released a human hating Forerunner?"

John didn't answer the question. From his posture he was agitated, though she didn't know why. Kelly wondered what had happened during the meeting to annoy him. "He indicated that he hated humanity though he didn't say it exactly, just talked about humanity like we were primitive beings. Del Rio wants to attack the gravity well rather than strike the Didact while he's vulnerable."

"The Captain's right," Kelly spoke up. " _Infinity_ can't attack the Didact. The ship is damaged and we are still limited by the gravity well. There's also the question of if this Didact is weakened at all. He had the Covenant, the Prometheans, and a ship that we don't really know if we did any damage to. I agree he needs to be taken care of and that _Infinity_ is the ship to do it, but right now if we wanted to attack the Didact we'd have to do a ground assault and we don't even know if there's a way into that thing. We need to focus on the gravity well, otherwise we'll be stuck in here. Not to mention if we get outside we might be able to call for assistance."

Silence hung in the air between the Spartans. Kelly tensed, a bit worried that John hadn't reacted. She didn't want to admit it but a part of her wanted acknowledgment of her logic, approval. He never acknowledged her words, just looked away from her, to Fred. "What do I need to know about the Spartan IVs?"

Kelly was stunned and hurt by the way he ignored her words. He didn't even show a sign of acknowledgment which was something he only did when he was upset with her. She wasn't sure what she'd done to make him unhappy with her. Had Cortana told on her for threatening the AI? She found it unlikely but she wouldn't have put it past the AI to do such a thing. Rampant AIs were unpredictable and unreliable which was why they were so dangerous. What was worse was there had never been an AI as rampant as Cortana. Sure, she had been in service for eight years but they knew that the information from the Halo had accelerated her rampancy and it was known that if an AI had nothing to do the process would speed up more. In truth Cortana wasn't an eight-year-old AI, she was at least twelve if not more years old. There was no telling what to expect from an AI that was that rampant.

"That's basically all you need to know," Fred finished. Kelly realized she hadn't been paying attention but she didn't need to know the information. She already worked with the Spartan IVs and knew everything she needed to know about them. "If you want to know about their Commander I'd ask Kelly. She's friend with her."

John looked to Kelly, but Kelly didn't know what really to say. That coupled with the fact she was still a bit annoyed with his unexplained unhappiness with her made her less interested in sharing what she did know. She instead turned her gaze to Fred. "I'm not friends with her, she's a fan of me and Linda but she has less in common with Linda."

A group of Spartan IVs passed the Spartan IIs, all members of Gypsy Company. They moved toward the pelican and were fully ready for combat. "Looks like our ride's about to leave," Linda said as she stood. Kelly stood as well and followed behind Fred as they moved to the pelican and took their seats.

Kelly felt the pelican move as it was transferred and prepared for launch. Kelly considered the new information that John had given them. This Didact seemed like a big problem, but from what John had told them they didn't have any real assessment of the Forerunner's power. She still wasn't sure if they had actually pushed the Didact back or if it had gotten what it wanted and let them think they'd been pushed back. The Forerunners were smart enough to make the Halo Array, it seemed likely they might be smart enough to know how to do a proper misdirection. It could have all just been for show, after all they had barely even touched the Didact's ship when it had retreated.

"Do you really think that we shouldn't go after the Didact?" The words jerked Kelly out of her thoughts. She turned toward John, realizing that he was talking to her. "Should we really head back to Earth?"

"Of course not," Cortana cut in, or maybe she didn't realize she was cutting in. "The Didact needs to be dealt with or he will destroy humanity. He was pretty clear that humans were something he hated."

"I wasn't talking to you, Cortana." John's voice was hesitant and he turned slightly toward Kelly. "I've been out of the world for a long time, am I out of touch with the way things are?"

Kelly turned her gaze to the floor of the pelican. "The Didact does need to be taken care of, but like I told you, Del Rio isn't a Captain Keyes. Keyes would be behind you, put life and limb in the way to try to save humanity and stop the Didact, but he worked with older ships, never the big expensive ships like _Infinity_. I don't think that we can just leave and go back to Earth, but we do need to get out of this planet. As long as we're in here we're surrounded by things that the Didact might be able to control, and we don't know how many Prometheans are in this planet. We can't report to FLEETCOM but we might be able to if we can get out of here. Strategically it would be ill advised to try to pick a fight while stuck in this place and with _Infinity_ not fully repaired." Kelly's gaze turned back to John. "This isn't the war, John. Humanity isn't urgently trying to survive. For you just a few days ago we were fighting the Prophets and Loyalists, now there isn't that sort of threat constantly."

They were both silent for a full second before John spoke again. "You're right, it would be a bad idea to make an assault on an enemy with unknown strength in its home ground," he acknowledged. Kelly felt a smile tug on her lips at his words. It sent a warm feeling through her to know he approved. "I'm sorry." Kelly cocked her head to the side, not understanding. "I kept you by my side all the time out of partially selfish reasons. I gave Fred and Linda a chance to lead and they got a chance to show their skill. I never gave you a chance, but you've shown that you have the skill to lead a team." John looked down toward her hand but didn't move. "I'd touch you right now but I don't think I want to suffer more of Linda's comments."

Kelly glanced toward the Spartan IVs. "Might also be a good idea to refrain in front of the Spartan IVs in case they talk about it, but I appreciate it, John. It means a lot to me." She really wished she could just reach out and touch him but knew they needed to be restrained. "I told you, I always liked being at yours side. Besides, now you're my Blue Two." Kelly grinned but realized she had no way of indicating it to him.

The holo-projector in the center of the pelican flashed to life and Kelly focused on the image of Captain Del Rio. "Infinity _to Gypsy Company_. _The air corridor to the gravity well is blocked by a network of particle cannons_. Infinity's _shields are still down_." There was a grave tone to his voice as he spoke. " _Open the lane for us to move up and provide air support_."

"Captain, what's force recon's assessment of the terrain?" John asked. Kelly wondered herself what they should expect. Though she knew without being able to put up sensors in orbit, which wasn't possible at the moment, they would be greatly limited.

The Captain seemed to not understand the question at first but finally spoke, slightly turning toward John. " _I know you've been off the field for a while, Master Chief but this is a blow through op. Sending in recon would just slow us down_." Kelly didn't really like the tone he had taken, almost an admonishing tone. John's question had been a good one and no one had told them there wouldn't be recon. She wished she'd known then she would have suggested sending in the Rabbits to get some quick information. " _Telemetry indicates the particle cannons are being controlled form a command post southwest of our position. Roll on that target and neutralize those guns. We'll meet on the other side and take the gravity well_. Infinity _out_." The hologram vanished and the pelican descended.

"I don't know about you but I like a little more intel with my intel." Kelly frowned at Cortana's words. Something about them seemed familiar but she brushed it off.

"We'll make it work," John assured the AI. He looked to the Spartans as they all stood. "We always do."

"We've done it with less," Kelly pointed out. "Remember the city of hunters?" She frowned, wondering why she'd thought of that incident. There had been many other times they'd fought with almost no information like they had in the museum on Sigma. Kelly glanced toward John as he turned toward the door. She wondered if the Captain's words had made him doubt his abilities again. "Seems that the Captain is breaking under the pressure," Kelly commented.

"Yeah, seems he just wants to turn tail and run. Never wished I could have a Captain like Keyes so much," Linda added.

"Well when the tough times come the best of us rise to the challenge. Del Rio isn't meant to be a Captain that's going to save the world, just run a ship on normal patrols," Fred spoke up. "Though that probably means that _Infinity_ should be given to a Captain that understands its duty, to protect humanity."

"Well, we'll just have to figure out some other way to get things done. Once we get out of this planet, then we'll think of a way to stop the Didact," Kelly assured them. The rear of the pelican opened and they moved out into the light and the dusty land.

Blue Team moved forward along a pathway, past a pair of marines who saluted them. " _Blue Team, Palmer in_ Infinity _CIC, Commander Lasky's waiting for you on the Mammoth,_ " Palmer instructed.

"On our way there," Fred replied. The Spartan IIs moved through an opening in the rock wall toward the Mammoth. The entire area reminded Kelly of the open areas of a desert. They knew that Halos and shield worlds could have many different areas but she'd never seen the inner part of a shield world have a space like this. At least Onyx hadn't.

They moved out into the sunlight. The Mammoth was at the ready, front and back ramps down. " _Papa Foxtrot Seven Six Six to Spartan Palmer, we're finally in the air,_ " a pilot announced.

The Spartans moved onto the Mammoth and Fred stopped to grab a rocket launcher. The others continued on, heading up two sets of stairs to the outer edge. As they moved Kelly spotted a sniper rifle secured to a wall and pointed to it for Linda. She nodded, indicating she was aware of the extra ammunition. For now the one on her back was loaded enough.

The trio made their way to the front of the Mammoth where Lasky was waiting. He turned toward them but it was obvious he was looking to John. "Spartans, unfortunately for us we've got to manually bring down a couple of the particle cannons before we can get to the command post." Although he addressed all of them he was obviously really only talking to John.

Linda looked to Kelly and she knew what the other woman was thinking, the same thing as her. Lasky was talking directly to John as though he were still the leader of Blue Team. It was bad enough that normal soldiers only ever wanted to talk about John, about what he'd done, as though the others hadn't done anything of note, but to have their rank and presence basically ignored was more agitating. It wasn't that they were jealous, just that they hadn't chosen to be absent during it all and yet it felt like they were being treated as though they had just not gone with John, abandoned him.

Fred moved up the stairs to join them but Lasky turned his gaze out to the path ahead of them. Fred looked to Linda and Kelly. "What are we, dead Grunts?" Linda asked over a COMM between the three of them. Kelly didn't say anything. She had always been John's shadow so she was used to being ignored. She's always figured that most people didn't know one Spartan from another as their armor was all the same until John had done what he did. Then he was the only Spartan worth remembering. For those that worked with the Spartans II the only thing they really knew was that whatever Spartan II they were dealing with wasn't the Master Chief.

" _Gypsy Company, this is Captain Del Rio._ " The Captain's voice broke in over the radio. " _The board is green. Let's shut that gravity well down so we can go home. Good hunting,_ Infinity _out._ " Yeah, Del Rio was very eager to get back to human space. It was a moment like this that Kelly wished he would dig deep down and try to find some Keyes in him.

"OK, Gypsy, time to work for it. Let's shake some dirt." Lasky announced. With that the Mammoth started to move forward.

Fred and John moved to the rocket launchers on the top of the vehicle while Linda moved to the nose and looked out through her scope for any sign of enemies. Kelly suddenly felt rather useless, as there was no real position that she could take up. "Kelly?" She turned to John as he spoke to her. He seemed to hesitate before speaking again. "What kind of weapons do we have?"

Kelly knew what he was actually doing. He was giving her something to do without ordering it. "I don't know." She turned and moved down the stairs to find out what sort of arms they'd been given. She checked over the stash of weapons not sure why they'd been given so many assault rifles. More battle rifles would have been more useful.

" _Captain Del Rio, targeting Pelicans are in position near the particle cannons, waiting for the Mammoth's Mini-MAC to take them out,_ " Palmer announced. Kelly moved to the side of the Mammoth and looked out where she could see three Pelicans moving into place. She frowned as she realized they looked a little too close to the target. " _Seven Six Six, lose some altitude. You're inside the kill box._ "

" _Almost got target lock. Just a little more_ …" the pilot muttered. Kelly didn't know what he thought he was doing but he was taking a big risk. The Mammoth moved around a corner and the particle cannon came into view. It looked like a giant angry eye with a trio of arms around it like the points of a triangle. She could see the center gathering energy and her gaze turned to the Pelicans, hoping they would move out of the way.

" _Pelican fall back,_ " Palmer ordered but it was too late. The cannon fired and a beam of solid energy shot across the sky. Kelly's suit adjusted so it didn't blind her but she could see the giant beam of light completely covering where the Pelicans had been. When the light vanished the Pelicans were gone.

"Infinity, _Pelicans down,_ " Lasky reported.

" _Get to the crash site and retrieve that target designator, Gypsy. You've got on chance of clearing those guns without it,_ " Del Rio ordered. Kelly moved back into the Mammoth to prepare for combat. Things were about to get a bit more difficult.


	9. Chapter 8

Kelly could hear the mounted rocket turrets above firing as the Mammoth moved along the path and must have met enemies. Kelly had moved up to the second level of the Mammoth and grabbed battle rifles and ammunition. When she got back to the top of the vehicle John was scanning the skies for enemies. She moved up behind him and attached the battle rifle to the back of his armor. John looked over his shoulder and nodded. She slipped some ammunition into his belt pouch. Kelly looked back to see Fred was still at the other turret but Linda had moved up to stand on the barrel of the mini-MAC.

" _Eyes up, Gypsy! Dropships, on approach,_ " Lasky reported. Kelly looked forward and spotted the phantom. It was heading toward a rocky area and she noted the pair of ghost's attached to the bottom of the ship.

" _There's Gypsy Seven's Pelican, out in the muck. Anyone still alive?"_ Palmer asked.

" _We're here! We're alive! We've got the target designator,"_ the pilot called out. From the sound of it she might have been injured or at least shaken from the crash.

"We'll get to them and retrieve the designator," Kelly assured Lasky. She motioned to John and moved to the edge. "Charton, Douglas, prepare to steal a couple Ghosts." There was a crack of a sniper rifle and a sniper jackal on a hover tower. Kelly aimed down and fired at a group of grunts. There were shots from below on the elite and it backed up. John fired beside her at the elite and it easily fell to the combined fire. Two Spartan IVs ran out into the area below. "There's a Warthog below. Gun for me?" John nodded and they moved to the belly of the Mammoth.

Kelly slid into the driver's seat while John manned the chain-gun. The front hatch opened and she hit the gas. Usually Kelly would have gunned while John drove but she knew the plan and John didn't. She sped over the area and he fired at the Ghosts, trying to keep his aim on them but she kept moving as much as she could. She sped around a one of the large rocks and hit the brakes. Kelly looked back and could see the Ghosts approaching. What the Ghosts didn't see where the Spartan IVs that were waiting behind the rock. The both fired overcharged plasma pistols and the Ghost lost power. The Spartan IVs moved forward and jumped aboard the alien vehicles. They kicked the elites out of the pilot seats and quickly slipped into place, taking off at full boost. John fired and without their shields the elites were cut down in seconds.

Kelly turned the Warthog and moved toward the downed Pelican. She hit the brakes and caused the Warthog to spin so that the rear was pointed toward the Pelican. "I didn't think anyone would hear me," the pilot said as she moved out of cover.

"Sit tight, Marine. We'll get you out of here." John moved over and grabbed the designator. Kelly watched as the Ghosts sped about, toying with a couple jackals before simply running them over.

"Target those Phantoms for the Rail Gun to shoot down," Cortana instructed. Kelly scowled and looked back at John who was already on the machinegun. She heard the Phantom explode behind them. She still didn't understand why it was that Cortana felt she had to tell him what to do. Maybe he didn't mind it, but she certainly preferred Sapphire's way of just tagging things that needed to be destroyed and letting Kelly decide how to do it.

Kelly moved between a pair of Ghosts that had been dropped off, trying to keep steady enough that John could keep the gun on them. With the two Ghosts and the Warthog the enemy vehicles were easy picking. Another Phantom appeared and Kelly moved the Warthog to avoid the shots from its front turret as it targeted them. The ship dropped off a Wraith. She turned and sped toward the tank. It tried to follow her but she moved behind it and kept the jeep behind it. "Why don't these things move faster?"

"Because they exist in the same dimension as the rest of us, not the parallel pail of existence that you live in," John answered. Kelly frowned, starting to actually get worried. It wasn't like John to make comments like that. As he'd told her he usually had those thoughts but kept them to himself.

" _Spartans, we're clear. Mini-MAC's at your disposal. Take out that particle cannon_ ," Lasky ordered. " _Rail gun reloaded_." It was nice to have a commander like Lasky. He knew he was in command but let the Spartans be, knowing they knew what they were doing. She like that in a person she was forced to be under the command of.

Kelly stopped the Warthog beside the Mammoth so that John could target the cannon. He released the gun and aimed the designator, marking the particle cannon. A fraction of a second later the particle cannon burst apart, the bits falling to the ground. Kelly moved the Warthog around back of the Mammoth and back into the belly of the vehicle.

" _Lasky to_ Infinity, _first contact cleared but no joy on additional targets,"_ Lasky reported. _"Gypsy moving onto secondary battle position but requesting evac for casualties._ "

" _I'm on it, Commander. Palmer out."_ Kelly was starting to wonder exactly why is was Lasky was on the ground but Palmer was on the ship.

Kelly felt the Mammoth start to move forward and Kelly relaxed a bit. "Thanks for gunning for me," Kelly said as she looked back at John. He had released the gun and was moving around the side of the Warthog to stand beside the driver's seat.

"Glad to help," John replied. "I forgot how nice it was to have you guys around. Things are a lot easier when you don't have to do all of it on my own." John set his hand on the edge of the Warthog's side.

"Sorry you had to do any of it on your own," Kelly leaned a bit in the seat so her elbow was touching his hand on the Warthog. "You know we all wanted to be there to help you, particularly after what happened on the Halo."

"I know that, Kelly. I know that if you could have then you would have been with me." John glanced over to the side opening of the Mammoth where a Ghost sped past. "Were those Spartan IVs out there yours?"

"Yeah, those were Hell Rabbits. Because we go in fast and with very little we tend to steal vehicles and weapons from the enemy. The whole drawing them around a corner and then hitting them with an EMP was one of the first things I perfected with them," Kelly explained. She looked up as she heard the rocket pod firing.

"I should probably head back up and give Fred some assistance," John removes his hand from the jeep and took a step away from the vehicle.

"I wouldn't bother. There's a rock wall on one side and you'd have to shoot past the Mammoth in order to hit anything and would be more likely to hit the actual Mammoth," Kelly reasoned. "Why not stay here and be ready to be my gunner when it's time to take down more enemies?"

"Forecefield barricading the far side of the canyon," Sapphire announced. "Three generators." Three red markers showed up on Kelly's HUD. "Enemy vehicles ahead."

Kelly motioned toward the back. "See, now get on the gun."

"Bossy," John joked as he moved around to the machine gun. It didn't sound like a joke, but Kelly knew him well enough to know it was a joke. She wondered if he was finding it difficult to not be in command though the thought quickly vanished. Spartans lived to follow the chain-of-command. Kelly was a higher rank than him so she was sure that he wasn't very upset with not being the leader.

The front hatch of the Mammoth opened and Kelly hit the gas. There were already two Ghosts ahead of them and John opened fire. She could hear Linda taking a few shots, probably targeting the higher ranked enemies. Kelly focused only on the Ghosts as she tried to stay out of their fire while still giving John a good position to shoot from.

"I've got the first generator," Fred announced. Kelly glanced over toward it as they made a pass and could see the close combat Spartan moving under the forcefield that protected it. In such close range he could take down even the elite that was taking cover under the blue dome of light.

John finished off the first of the Ghosts when Kelly spotted a familiar turret ahead. There was a Wraith on the area above them and she spun the Warthog around, wanting to put some distance between her and the tank. "Wraith!" Cortana shouted, though it wasn't all that loud in Kelly's helmet. She knew it had been a shout but it sounded muffled, like someone had turned the volume down/ She figured it was Sapphire who knew of her complaints about the other AI shouting.

"We'll take care of the generator, you take care of the Wraith." Kelly moved the Warthog toward the generator and quickly slid it under the protective shield. The Wraith fired but the shots hit the dome which kept the jeep safe. Kelly relaxed and just watched, knowing that the Wraith would keep its focus on the vehicle. It didn't even see the two rockets before they impacted. The tank burst into flames and it fell to the ground, the anti-gravity engines shutting down. Kelly moved the Warthog so that John could fire directly on the generator. She watched as Fred fired again, the rockets hitting a sniper tower.

The generator exploded and Kelly continued up the path toward the final generator. She gunned it, heading straight for the device. She could hear John behind her bracing for impact. She slammed into the generator, pinning an elite between the jeep and the machine as the alien device burst into fire. The warthog was slightly damaged but she reversed and it moved away from the hunk of metal so it still functioned. John opened fire on the grunts that were trying to run away.

With the area cleared Kelly stopped long enough for Fred to hop into the passenger's seat. With him securely in place Kelly headed back to the Mammoth. She parked in the bottom as she had before and Fred got out. "I'm going to head back up. You two try not to make too much noise making out in the back seat of the jeep," Fred teased.

Kelly shook her head. "As if there was somewhere on this vehicle that two Spartans could fit. Though the Mammoth does have a lot of room in it." Fred put up his hands, indicating he was walking away from the conversation. He moved to the stairs and started up. Kelly felt the Mammoth move and relaxed a bit.

"Is it safe to say things like that to him?" John asked.

"It's just teasing. It doesn't mean anything and Fred won't take it seriously. Besides, he knows that we wouldn't do anything with soldiers around," Kelly pointed out.

"You did some damage to our Warthog," John dismounted from the gun and moved around to the front. "I know you can hit jackals but ramming Covenant devices might be a bad idea." He checked over the hood and nodded. "Still looks good to me. I'd prefer a new one but it's still usable."

"Master Chief, the second cannon is in range. Mini-MAC is waiting for you to mark it," Sapphire announced.

"All right, I'll mark it right way." John nodded to Kelly and then moved over to the stairs. She could only sit and wait for him to make the cannon and have it destroyed before he would return to her and they could head out again.

The boom of the cannon being shot reverberated through the Mammoth. " _Shot's good_ ," Lasky announced. " _All units, unidentified Covenant vehicle incoming_." Kelly frowned, surprised by the words. The last time she'd heard that it was the first time they'd seen a Revenant.

Kelly moved out of the jeep and quickly up the stairs. She found John staring up at the sky and looked in the same direction. She'd never seen the ship that was moving toward them. It had sleek lines and a few sharp angles. It was sort of red color that reminded her of a darker Revenant. A neon green glow appeared at the bottom of it and Kelly suddenly found herself being pushed down toward the ground. John pinned her down to the ground. The ship fired and the shot hit the mini-MAC above them. It lasted for a full second before it suddenly cut off. John moved enough so that she could sit up but she could still feel his hand still on her waist.

" _Mammoth's hit! Forward action offline. Primary power controls offline!_ " Lasky announced.

Kelly looked back to the cannon and saw that it was sparking, obviously damaged by the shot. "Linda had moved," Fred answered the unspoken question. "She'd gone down to get more ammunition." Fred landed beside them and looked up, watching the vehicle move overhead. She had to admit it moved slower than she had expected. "I'll man the pod on the other side. I spotted a Gauss Warthog down below. It should be more helpful." He moved up the stairs and around to the other side.

Kelly got to her feet and moved to the front of the vehicle. She jumped down from above and landed on the ground below. John landed beside her and they both sprinted toward the Gausshog. "I'll drive," John decided as they moved to the vehicle. He moved easily, grabbing the middle support bar and slid himself into place in the driver's seat. Kelly jumped onto the back and manned the gun.

"Target Ghosts," Fred instructed. She could hear him firing down toward the enemy vehicles. John hit the gas and they started to move. Kelly fired on the Ghosts, understanding why John had taken to driving. He was a fine driver and her reflexes allowed her to be able to adjust her aim as the hog moved. John's slower reflexes worked for the machine gun but more precision was needed for the Gausshog.

Several sets of Phantoms showed up, dropping off Ghosts and Wraiths. Kelly focused on the Ghosts while Fred used the rocket pod to take care of the Wraiths with ease. "The ships settling in over the mesa," Cortana announced. Kelly was sort of wondering what the AI was talking about. The unknown ship had stopped moving and put down troops a while ago, after the first Wraith had shown up. She wondered if it was just taking the AI that long to notice things, which was a worry, or if she just hadn't thought it would stay. "There's a grav lift into the belly of that ship. Time it right and we should be able to ride it inside." Kelly glanced toward John, wondering if he noticed how patronizing Cortana was being. Did she really think that they didn't know how to board an enemy ship, take it out, or how to use a Covenant grav lift?

Once the enemy vehicles were all down John turned the vehicle to move up the path toward the enemies. Kelly targeted the elites first, knowing that grunts and jackals could be run over with ease but elites could cause a problem. She ducked down as John rammed the last jackal and it went flying over the hood of the jeep, just barely managing not to hit her as it passed.

John stopped outside of a ring of barriers around the outside of the grav lift. They both moved out of the Warthog and moved toward the lift. John went up first, Kelly right on his heels. They landed inside the ship, a jackal and a few grunts before them. In unison they opened fire and cut down the enemy with clean precision. John motioned toward the other side of the room and they moved forward, finding a ramp up ahead. John took point and they moved up the ramp.

He opened fire on something and Kelly could hear the annoyed shout of an elite. John moved to the side and Kelly moved up until she spotted the elite, joining him in firing on the more dangerous enemy. With the two Spartans firing the enemy's shields fell and their rounds tore through its skull. They then cleared out the smaller Covenant and moved to what seemed to be the power source. Kelly hung a bit back, keeping an eye on their six. John came running from the back. He grabbed one of her hands and pulled her toward the open side of the ship. They jumped, just barely managing to land on the solid ground near where they had entered the ship.

The two Spartans watched as the vehicle slowly moved off, an odd shimmering like a Covenant energy shield being hit appeared and then vanished. It moved over the Mammoth and back the way it had arrived from. It had gotten a bit away before the ship started to dip, losing control and finally exploding. Kelly watched it all, wishing they could have gotten more information about the craft.

"You know I can see you two, right?" Linda asked. Kelly wasn't sure what she meant until she realized that they were still holding hands. John released her hand and she let it fall to her side. Kelly sort of wished that Linda had just kept her mouth shut for once.

" _Nicely done, Spartans. It was getting a big dicey there for a minute_." Lasky seemed truly relieved. He probably had really feared they wouldn't be able to win that fight or that the Mammoth's cannon would have been destroyed. " _All hands form up on us_." John turned the Warthog and easily moved up the rear ramp and parked behind the partially damaged Warthog.

" _Lasky, this is_ Infinity. _Status,_ " Del Rio ordered.

" _Mammoth's in pretty bad shape, sir._ " There was a real sort of concern to Lasky's voice. " _She'll make it to the objective as long as nobody starts throwing rocks at us._ "

" _Not a Chance we can take_ ," Del Rio decided. " _I'm sending teams out to some of their fire off you so you can make it to the gravity well_."

" _Rodger that, sir. Gypsy, let's move out_ ," Lasky ordered. At his command the Mammoth started to move, slowly but steadily forward.

" _Shadow Company, Castle Company. Put some pressure on those other particle cannons_ ," Del Rio seemed calm and cool about the soldiers he was putting in danger. There wasn't the sort of serious nature that she expected when putting other soldiers in danger like that, sort of a numb indifference from the Captain.

" _Castle reading five by fire. On station, ready to assist."_ Over years of combat Kelly had learned a bit about trying to judge people by their voice and how they reacted to situations. The Castle Leader's words made her more confident that they were going to be able to handle the new orders.

" _Shadow Actual to_ Infinity _. Encountering enemy Air. Significant EOF closer to the emplacements_." Kelly frowned, not sure if Shadow was really going to be able to do them much good. From their leader's words he seemed to have his hands full. Kelly dismounted from the warthog and moved toward the stairs. They were in no real hurry.

John stopped and Kelly looked back at him. She frowned, not sure what was going on but knowing that whatever it was she assumed it had to do with Cortana. When John finally looked to her again he moved up to stand beside her, looking out toward the sky. "Kelly, how much do you know about rampancy of AIs?"

"Rampancy is when the pathways of an AI are used up and the AI starts to double back on itself. Their ability to function is greatly limited, they become incoherent, and their thought processes start to break down."

"Is there a way to stop it?" John asked.

Kelly thought of telling him she didn't know, but she knew that there was no point in being gentle with him. "No, there is no way to stop or reverse it." She knew it wasn't the answer he wanted to hear but she didn't like to lie to him. His hand reached over and gently brushed against hers.

" _Blue team, Lasky. We've got significant blockage up ahead. Think this is about it for the Mammoth_." Lasky seemed a bit concerned about what they were going to do from here.

"Command post located," Sapphire announced. A marker appeared on Kelly's HUD, marking a trench. Kelly moved to the front of the Mammoth and looked over as Linda joined them from the other side, Fred behind her.

"We can move faster on our own. Blue team will take care of it," Kelly reported to the Commander. Kelly moved forward and the Spartans jumped down from the vehicle, hitting the ground and heading toward the trench at a sprint.


	10. Chapter 9

The Spartans moved along the trench, Kelly stopping them at a spot where it opened up into a wider area. She peeked out around the corner and frowned as she spotted a Promethean Knight. "We've got a Knight," she informed the others. Her gaze looked down to a Jackal that was moving down from the path above into the open area. "Directing Covenant." She was watching the passage for more enemies and it was only luck that she moved at all. She heard the shot and her gaze shifted to the Jackal. Pain laced through her arm as she realized that she'd been hit. Firm hands pulled her back from the edge and clamed over her arm where she'd been hit. She looked back at John who had pulled her back. "Oh, and snipers," she added.

John removed his hand for a moment, looking at the injury. The shot had managed to hit her just under her upper arm armor and gone right through. It was bleeding but he was satisfied enough that it wasn't a major injury, allowing him to relax a bit. "Sniper alley," Linda announced. "Duck and dodge, only move when I've shot, Rabbit."

Kelly nodded and moved back to the opening into the wider area. She had complete faith in Linda's skill, though she had only done this plan once, and that hadn't been with Linda. She darted out into the open, moving to one of the rocks. She had to dodge a bit more to keep the snipers focused on her but not able to shoot her. She moved from rock to rock, each time waiting until she heard a shot from Linda before she moved again. She was certain that each and every shot was a round tearing through the skull of one of the bird-like aliens. The only real problem was the enemies that were milling around the area fired on her. For the most part she kept them on them chasing her as well, trying to figure out which rock she'd gone to.

Kelly ducked behind one rock, aware of the jackal waiting on the other side, shield at the ready and plasma pistol ready. She waited for the sniper shot before she moved out from behind the rock. She charged toward the Jackal and pulled out a grenade. She pulled the pin and dropped it to the ground before moving around the alien's shield. She sprinted to the next rock and took cover. The jackal turned to fire on her just in time for the grenade explode and sent shrapnel cutting through it's back, killing it. She turned to her right and fired on a Grunt as it moved around the rock.

She continued to dodge from rock to rock until Linda flashed a green light on her HUD. She stopped and waited behind one of the rocks. "Fred, John, clear the area out," Linda ordered. The two male Spartans moved forward along the sides and cleared out the remaining Covenant. Linda moved up and stopped beside Kelly. "Nice to have a couple guys around to clean things up after we're done with the real work."

Kelly shook her head. "You've been listening to Palmer again, haven't you?' Kelly countered, moving around the rock and following Linda up to where the two male Spartans were waiting for them.

"This entire place is a snipers dream, we'll move slowly," Linda instructed. It wasn't so much about actually giving an order as she was making it clear she was in charge in this sort of place. Kelly was fine with that, she knew all the spots a sniper might hide and would spot them first. Linda took point and the other three hung back, watching their back.

Linda eased her way up around a rock at the bottom of the path up. There were for shots and Linda turned back to the other Spartans. She motioned them forward and the four moved forward. Kelly looked along the path ahead as they moved up and found six Grunts and a sniper jackal, all dead in their path. Near where the Path doubled back to the upper area Linda motioned for them to stop and edged forward. The Spartans ducked down so they were under the cover of a rock but there wasn't much else they could do. Linda fired a full clip and then looked back to the others. "There's one more sniper." She moved forward and the Spartans stayed in place. Kelly heard the sound of a jet pack being activated and then Linda firing once. "Clear," she reported.

The Spartans moved up the area, John and Kelly moving to the front and firing with precise shots on the Grunts in the area. Ahead was a ramp up to a sort of Forerunner structure. Kelly moved up the ramp and looked across the bridge, checking the enemies. There were several Jackals ahead and Kelly took aim. She fired with her battle rifle at its foot, causing it to stumble back. It was quickly followed by John firing a burst of three rounds into the Jackal's exposed head. They did this with the remaining three Jackals while Fred fired on the Grunts. It took only seconds for the enemies to be cleared and they stayed in place. John looked to Kelly and Fred but they both knew that this was Linda's area, she knew if there would be more snipers ahead and would wait for her signal.

The screams of Grunts caught their attention as several Grunts ran out of hiding places, armed grenades in hand and running toward them. The Spartans didn't hesitate, taking them all down before they could even get half way across the bridge. The grenades all fell in a pile on the floor and exploded in a great ball of blue. "Oh look, the Covenant are welcoming Blue Team back to the field and working together," Fred joked. Two more Grunts moved down one of the upper ramps, grenades in hand. Fred fired and the two fell to the ground and exploded harmlessly, far away from the Spartans.

They waited for a couple seconds more before they moved up again. Linda motioned for John to take point and Kelly covered the right side as they moved over the bridge. John led them up the ramp the Grunts had been coming down. When they reached the top Kelly was surprised when they found nothing waiting for them. The Spartans started to move forward when there was a flash of light ahead of them and a Promethean Knight appeared. It motioned toward them and more red dots appeared on Kelly's motion tracker. There were two sniper shots and the Knight disintegrated.

Crawlers raced toward the Spartans and they moved in a semi-circle to cover each other's backs. Kelly could see her shield draining but not enough that she needed to worry. She focused fully on the Crawlers, aiming for their heads. Something landed on Kelly's back and she heard the high pitched cry of a crawler. It was suddenly pulled away and she looked back to see that John had grabbed the Crawler by its pincer-like mouth and had pulled it off. He put his foot on the thing's back and with one great yank split the parts of the enemy's head apart, causing it to fall to pieces on the ground.

Calm fell over the area and the Spartans scanned the area, looking for any movement that might be a foe. "Clear," Linda announced. Kelly trusted her, knowing that if there was anything the sniper would be the one to spot it. The Spartans moved forward, moving ahead steadily, checking for any sign of Knights or Crawlers. Linda They stopped at the base of a ramp up to a high catwalk. Linda stopped them and looked around. "I'm going to take better sniping position." With that she moved back away from them, heading to a dirt incline that would give her a view of the catwalk and allow her to cover them.

The Spartans held their position until Linda flashed a green light and they moved forward. They had just started up the ramp when a Knight appeared before them. Linda fired twice and it broke apart like before. "You know you could leave something for us to kill," Kelly commented.

"Well there are some Grunts above you. I could leave those for you, I guess," Linda agreed reluctantly. "There are two on each side so you can fight over the last one."

Kelly moved to the right and took aim on the Grunt ahead of her. She put a burst through its skull and moved to aim at the seconds. It fell as John fired and Kelly looked back at him. "Are you stalking me?" John didn't reply to her and she hoped that she hadn't said something insulting. Kelly looked to her left as there were too flashes of light and two Knights appeared in the center area of the platform. Kelly turned her gaze toward it and opened fire. John joined her and they took down the Knight's shields. It suddenly moved like a flip-book. Kelly could see it appear closer and closer each fraction of a second until it was upon them. Kelly moved forward, raising her gun up to block. The enemy's blade hit her weapon and the force sent it flying from her hands. Its other hand reached out for her but stopped as John's blade stabbed into its neck. The Knight shook a bit and then disintegrated like the others. Kelly heard a sniper shot and looked across the catwalk at the Knight that Linda had finished off for Fred.

"Crawlers coming down," Linda alerted them. Kelly looked up to see a large number of crawlers climbing down the rock wall. Linda fired and Kelly didn't see what she'd shot. The Crawlers started to fire and her focus was turned back to the enemies. They weren't really all that hard of an enemy for the Spartans and with three of them firing on the little lizard-like machines they were a breeze. Each burst of rounds found the head of a crawler sending bits and pieces falling to the ground below.

Kelly watched the ridge of the area above, making sure that the flow of enemies had stopped. She relaxed after it remained clear for several seconds. "All right, let's get moving," Fred ordered as he moved toward an opening in the rock wall. It was made of metal that was certainly Forerunner made. The Spartans gathered at the mouth of the opening before moving on. "Blue Team to _Infinity_. We're entering the Forerunner structure."

There was nothing but static. "Breaking up but coordinates received, _Infinity_ ," Cortana reported. The doors slid open and they stepped into the metal hallway.

This place was like nothing Kelly had ever seen. It wasn't that it was amazing or beautiful, but because it was messy. There looked to be piles of dirt on the ground in an unusual Forerunner way. Usually their things were perfectly clean. They moved through the doorway and moved into a larger room. Kelly looked up to see a sentinel hovering a bit ahead of them. The pathway ahead of it closed up and it turned, moving to their right. The wall it stopped before opened up into a small room with a door on the other end. The Spartans moved to follow it and as soon as one of them stepped into the room the sentinel moved forward and the other door opened. It opened up into what was clearly and elevator.

The Spartans hesitantly moved forward, stopping at the edge of the elevator.

The Spartans stepped onto the elevator and it started to move. "This elevator should take us directly to the coordinates _Infinity_ provided," Cortana spoke up. "It's almost like those sentinels wanted us to get the particle canons off line."

The Spartans fell silent, all knowing what was possibly up ahead. Well not so much possibly as inevitably. "Covenant or Forerunner?" The others all turned to look at Kelly as she spoke. "Do you think the trap is Covenant set or Forerunner?"

"Forerunner," Fred spoke up. "This doesn't seem like something the Covenant could put together. There's also something about it that make it feel like this isn't Didact."

"I think I get what you mean," Linda agreed. "The Didact seems more direct, like just leaving the doors open not having the sentinels lead us."

"Those sort of sentinels are more passive, mainly for maintenance. I met some earlier and they just moved away, not attacking like the Prometheans. There's also something else. When the Didact took control of the Prometheans the glowing parts of them turned from blue to the orange color that they are now," John added.

The elevator stopped and the door opened. They moved forward slowly, looking for any sign of enemies. The large doors at the end of the hallway opened into a large chamber. A sentinel opened moved behind a set of doors and they shut, closing off another passage. Linda motioned to another sentinel at the other end of the large room and they moved toward it. The door before it opened and they moved through. They moved down a passage to the right. The door opened to what must have been their final destination. The room was full of large cylinder devices that must have been the power source for the cannons above. The Spartans moved down the pathway toward a large orb of light at the end.

Kelly stopped to examine one of the large generators, wanting to get a good enough look for the techs so they would be satisfied and she would be less likely to get chewed out later for not having gotten them a better look. "Ma'am, stop him," Sapphire spoke up.

Kelly turned toward the orb and saw John inserting Cortana into the terminal for the system. Kelly moved over to him quickly but it was too late. The AI was in the system and her Avatar had already appeared. "What are you doing?" Kelly demanded. "What did I tell you?" John looked back at her but didn't say anything back. "I told you we aren't using Cortana for important things like this, we're using Sapphire."

John stopped, looking away from her for a moment. "I…I forgot," he admitted. Those two words worried Kelly more than anything else. John didn't forget things, particularly orders. "I need a good sleep," he muttered to her.

"Particle cannons offline," Cortana announced. "See, I can still do anything your AI can do, only better," Cortana snapped.

"I don't care if you can't do it. I don't trust you to do it," Kelly countered. "Pull her out of that system. If she has one of those episodes there's no telling what kind of damage she can do."

"Wait," Cortana looked around, an overly human gesture, one of the kinds that annoyed Kelly. There was no reason for her to look around like that, there was nothing to see. "There's something in here." The AI suddenly vanished.

"Cortana! Cortana!" John turned to look to Kelly. "Where did she go?"

"Well she was in the system and it is likely she is still in the systems," Sapphire spoke up. "If we find another terminal we might find her or at least a way for me to be plugged in. Commander, insert me into the terminal and I will start looking for a path." Kelly moved over to the terminal and slipped the AI into it. The AI's avatar appeared over the terminal. "I can't seem to find a connection to where she's gone," the AI admitted. "I have connected myself to this system, though. Pull me and find another terminal." Kelly did so and the Spartans turned back down the path.

They were half way down the path before a light bridge appeared to their right. The Spartans stopped, hesitant. "You know, if this is a trap then we would have to be fools to go across that bridge," Fred pointed out.

"Except they've taken a piece of human technology as their prisoner," Kelly pointed out. "One that knows a lot about human systems and has been in _Infinity_." Fred sighed and nodded, conceding her point. The Spartans moved across the bridge and into the passage system that was ahead of them.

John took point and Kelly took rear guard. "Reminds me of the _Pillar of Autumn_ ," John commented. He must have understood they were confused. "I had to go through a few passages like this when we were evacuating the ship over the Halo." The Spartans remained silent but this time not from confusion. She knew John didn't mean to keep doing it but he kept bringing up the times they had let him down, the times they regretted not being able to help.

The passage opened up into a large room with a sentinel waiting for them. They watched as it moved away, toward a V formation of sentinels. They jumped down to the area below and moved to look at the odd formation. The door behind the sentinels opened revealing a large pillar of light. The Spartans stopped, hesitating. If it was a trap this was where they were trying to lead them.

"I'm not sure about this. Didn't the last trap unleash an evil Forerunner," Fred spoke up. "Why are the sentinels just hanging there?"

"The last trap the things on the planet were trying to stop it, these ones aren't," Linda observed. "Maybe they're just supposed to be an arrow or something, pointing to the light."

"But if this is a Didact trap then he would have control of the sentinels. He might also make them nonviolent in order to trick us into following the trap thinking that it isn't a Didact trap," Kelly suggested. "Sapphire, do you have anything?"

"No, whatever is in the system I cannot seem to figure out where it has hidden itself. There also seems t be no signal from Cortana," Sapphire reported.

"You have more experience with these sort of things, John, what do you think?" Kelly turned to look to the Master Chief but found he wasn't where he'd been before. While they'd been focusing on the sentinels John had moved toward the door. "John!" He didn't respond, just walked into the other room. As soon as he'd passed the doorway it slid shut, separating them. "John!" Kelly moved to the door and looked around for any sort of terminal that they could use to get the door opened. "Sapphire, open this door."

"Working," Sapphire reported.

Fred moved to Kelly's side. "Sapphire will get the door open," he assured her. Kelly wasn't sure how much she believed that. She'd waited four years to get him back and she didn't like him separating him from them just like that.

"Why did he go toward the light?" Linda asked. "Why would he just walk away from us?" Kelly thought of voicing her concern over his recent actions but decided against it. There was no reason to worry the others. For now they just needed to worry about getting the door open.

"Kelly," Fred spoke up, turning to the quick Spartan. "Do you think it's odd for him to just walk off like that?"

Kelly considered the question for a moment. "When I asked him about the original Halo he said there were things about it that he felt he just automatically knew how to use or knew to do. He said the first time he activated a light bridge he didn't even realize that he was touching the control. Maybe this is similar. Maybe he looked at the light and it caused the same thing to happen. Or maybe he's just been around enough Forerunner stuff that he is more confident in dealing with it." Kelly really hoped that one of those reasons was what had caused him to just walk away from them.

"I'm into the control systems," Sapphire announced. "Opening the door now." The metal slid open and on the other side John was kneeling on the ground, an odd shimmering field around him like the energy shield of an Elite.

"John." Kelly moved forward to the Master Chief. "Are you all right?" She checked his readings and frowned. "Your bio-readings are all over the place. What happened?"

"I'm fine. I know what the Didact is after," John stood and turned to the other Spartans. "He's after something called the Composer."

"Tangos," Fred announced. The Spartans all turned to look down a ramp ahead of them. There were crawlers running toward them. Kelly pulled out her pistol, her battle rifle having been lost a while ago. The Spartans opened fire on the Prometheans, Linda focusing on the Knights near the back and the Spartans picking off any Crawlers that ran toward them. John motioned them forward and the three of them moved down the ramp to clean up the remaining enemies.

Once they'd cleared out the last of the Crawlers and emptied the room of Prometheans Cortana called from a platform near where John had been standing before. "Good job, now come and get me."

Kelly raised an eyebrow and looked to John. "Did she just call you like a dog?" John didn't say anything. "Go grab her and let's get out of here." John nodded and moved up to the platform, grabbing the AI. The Spartans started to move through the room.

"There's an elevator ahead that should take us out," Sapphire informed them. The Spartans moved to the elevator and rode up.

"All right, you want to explain what happened?" Kelly asked, turning to John. "Why did you just walk away from us? What is the Composer?"

"The Composer is a Forerunner device that can turn humans into AI, it's how the Prometheans were made. The Didact is going to retrieve it and use it to turn all of humanity into his personal army," John explained.

"Well then I guess it's even more important that we stop him," Fred voiced as they reached the top. They moved through the room ahead of them and passed through the portal in the center of the room.

When they came out the bright light of the sun above blinded them for a moment until their visor's polarized. Before them there were human soldiers in combat with Covenant troops. There were several Mongoose, a Warthog, and a pair of tanks returning fire against Ghosts and Wraiths. "Linda, turret." Fred took off toward the closest tank. The Spartan IV in the tank climbed out and Fred climbed in. Linda slipped into the turret seat and they moved off.

"I'll gun for you," Kelly offered, motioning toward the second tank. John nodded and they moved over to it. The Spartan IV exited the tank and left it for them.

"Blue team to _Infinity_ , what's your status?" John asked, radioing the ship above.

" _We're taking a beating here_ ," Del Rio reported. He sounded panicked, like a soldier under fire though he was safe inside the giant ship.

"Does _Infinity_ have a shot on the gravity well?" John requested, firing on a Ghost that got too close and turning it into a ball of fire. Fred's tank moved forward to take point and target a Wraith ahead.

" _Negative, we'll never be able to get a target lock with all the air traffic we're seeing._ " Whatever was going on onboard _Infinity_ Del Rio wasn't handling it well. She wished Lasky was up there, someone calm that they could talk to.

"What about the laser designator?" Kelly spoke up. "If we could use it to mark the target could you fire?" She turned her turret and fired on a ghost that was trying to move around them. It was blown to bits a moment later by the tank's main gun.

" _Do it. Find them coordinates or somewhere with line of sight_ ," Del Rio ordered.

John moved the tank forward and they followed behind Fred and Linda, passing by the wreckage of enemy vehicles that Fred had already destroyed. They moved up the path and stopped when they spotted three tanks that Fred had already destroyed and the fourth that he was currently destroying. What caught Kelly's attention was the large Covenant barrier ahead that was blocking their way.

"Barrier power sources located," Sapphire announced before two markers appeared on Kelly's HUD. They were up a pathway in the direction that Fred was already heading.

"I'll take care of them," Fred assured them as he moved his tank up the path to the two power sources.

"Well then, you want to explain to me what happened?" Kelly turned in her turret seat and looked to John beside her in the tank. "What happened?"

John didn't answer right away. "I'm not sure. I spoke to what I think was a Forerunner AI. She told me a lot of things, about humanity, said that we fought a war against them long ago when we were running from the Flood. Then she told me about the Composer. They were trying to use it as a solution, the Flood can't infect AIs, but when they tried to change them back to flesh they were nothing like what they were before, had become monstrosities. Then she said she did something, but I don't believe what she said. I don't believe that our futures are determined by a long dead Forerunner."

Kelly watched as the first of the markers vanished and could hear Fred firing on the second. "You know they're wrong," Kelly asserted. "The Flood can infect AI. A Gravemind has all the knowledge of the Flood, of everything it's absorbed, and knows how to get into AIs. They make them rampant and get them to give up information, whatever they want. I read a document that indicated that a Forerunner AI was corrupted by a Gravemind, so whatever they thought they didn't know anything about the Flood."

"Barrier down, path is clear," Sapphire announced.

"We'll get the designator," John informed the other Spartans. He moved their tank over to the area but with no path large enough they both bailed on it. John took the lead as they moved up the small gap in the rocks and up the dirt path to where the designator was marked.

John grabbed the designator and Kelly watched his back. Being sure that nothing stopped them at the last moment. "Target marked," john announced. The two Spartans stood back and watched as _Infinity_ fired, the missile streaking through the sky and impacting the center of the gravity well. The shot hit straight at the large ring in the center of a trio of towers, sending fire spreading over the area. The towers crumpled and John turned back from the scene. Kelly nodded to him and they both headed back down the path to join up with the other Spartans.

A/N: I'd like to make it clear that I don't want advice on what I should have happen. I already have the story planned out. Just sit back and read. If you don't like how I'm doing things then go and write your own story, because this one is mine and I'll write it my way.


	11. Chapter 10

Kelly stood on the bridge with the other Spartan IIs. John had recounted what had happened with the Librarian for Lasky and Del Rio. It was obvious from the frown on Del Rio's face he wasn't happy, or maybe he just wasn't happy with any of this as he wasn't handling it well. Kelly glanced toward Cortana's hologram on the holotank. She didn't like them letting a rampant AI into the Infinity systems. She understood that Cortana had supposedly made contact with the Librarian but still wasn't sure about it. It was much too big of a risk to let an AI that kept having episodes into the most advances ship in the UNSC and their only way out of the planet.

Kelly was sure that John was telling the truth, he saw what he saw, but she questioned how real what he'd seen was. He was still the only person to have seen either of the Forerunners and she wondered if he was putting too much faith in some things. He obviously couldn't, or didn't want to, see how rampant Cortana was. If whatever he'd seen was a trick, after all Guilty Spark had fooled them, they knew there were greater AI out there. How could they be sure John hadn't been showed a lie or if this Librarian did exist Kelly wondered how trustworthy it really was. She looked to John and wondered what he was thinking. Did he really trust the Librarian? If he did how could she doubt him? Even if her head didn't trust something she hadn't seen she did trust John. She was just wondering how much he'd risk for something they couldn't prove was necessarily true.

Del Rio spoke after finally seeming to have put his thoughts in line. " _Infinity_ cannot handle that kind of punishment, not again." Kelly wasn't sure if he was correct but she had yet to see the damage report on the ship.

"This isn't about us, or this ship anymore,"Cortana argued.

"Sir," John cut in. "We've seen what the Didact is capable of. If we let him leave this world, humanity will be at risk." It was a sound argument and Kelly agreed. If the Didact took the Prometheans off the planet she was sure they would cut through most human soldiers as easily as the Covenant had and there weren't as many humans left to die.

"Look," Del rio folded his hands behind his back. "I understand what you think you saw," the Captain began. It seemed he had the same concerns as Kelly. There was no physical proof which made John's story a improvable event, and as she understood his helmet's camera hadn't picked up anything, meaning that there was nothing that Del Rio had other than the word of a Spartan.

"Think," Cortana cut in, a bit of a panic yet forceful tone. She was obviously offended though Kelly didn't know why. The AI hadn't seen anything, it had been John. Kelly did feel a bit of agitation toward the questioning of John's word, after all he deserved their trust.

"With all due respect, sir, I know what I saw." John's words were a bit more forceful, not threatening but he was confident in what he'd seen. Kelly would voice that she vouched for his word but that would do them no good here. There was no use in asserting herself when for now she and the other Spartans were being ignored.

"With all due respect to you, soldier," Del Rio moved around the table and stood before John, a bit more courageous of a thing than Kelly had expected from him after his recent actions but maybe he was panicked enough he wasn't thinking that John would easily kill him and he was only making it easier. "I'm not willing to jeopardize my ship because of the hallucinations of an aging Spartan and his malfunctioning AI."

Kelly tensed and she could feel Fred and Linda tense as well. How many times had all of their mental states been questioned, their memories and actions scrutinized? At what point had humanity forgotten when Spartans had been the model of trustworthy, now many soldiers had not dared questioned the crazy orders of a Spartan to do something that was illogical. Now they were seen as broken, aging, and there had been too many questions about their cognitive abilities lowering for the Spartans not to take offense, even if the comment hadn't been directed at them.

"Sir, what if he's right?" Lasky asked. Kelly had to admit that with the Captain's recent actions it was brave to be asking that question.

Del Rio stopped and stared across the table at Lasky, his face still showing his anger, not having changed a bit since he'd insulted John. "Nav, as soon as we know we're air tight I want a course laid into Carine Station. Com, prepare a warning beacon." He was making it clear that they were leaving.

The lights flickered and Kelly's hand went to her pistol, figuring it was some sort of attack by the Didact. They looked around the area, trying to figure out what was going on, all of the electronics flickering a bit. There was a creek of metal and Kelly's gaze turned to the holotank when she saw a bit of red. The hands of Cortana's avatar were clenched and its head was bowed. "I will not allow you to leave this planet!" The avatar blinked in and out of existence, becoming red a couple times, and as she spoke the last word a burst went out through the bridge. Monitors went dead, lights went out and Kelly heard a loud screech in her ear which suddenly cut out a fraction of a second later. The avatar returned to normal, looking worn out and Kelly could hear audible breathing. It sent a spike of alert through her. AIs didn't have to breath meaning that Cortana had become detached enough from what she really was that she thought she actually had lungs.

"Cortana," John cut in, a bit of a scold but like a father trying to tell his child to stop throwing a tantrum and keep things together.

There were bits of electrical arching along the table like a shots that had been hit by an overcharged plasma pistol. "I didn't mean to." She was still breathing heavily and Kelly looked to John, hoping that now he would understand why it was that she was worried about Cortana. The AI had just had a melt down on _Infinity's_ bridge and who know how much damage she'd just done to the systems. "I didn't mean to do that."

"Commander Lasky, pursuant to article fifty-five of UNSC regulation twelve-one-four-five-seven-two I'm ordering you to remove that AI's data chip and retire it for final dispensation." As the Captain spoke she could see on Lasky's face that he really didn't want to follow the order, and it almost pained him. The entire time Cortana was muttering to herself like the last pleas of a weak rebel before being killed by a soldier.

"I don't want to, you don't want me to," Cortana's voice was weak. Her AI was hunched over making nervous gestures as she pleaded with half sentences. To Kelly it just showed exactly how broken the AI was. She remembered first meeting Cortana and this wasn't that AI. She didn't understand why Lasky was hesitating. Cortana did need to be removed from the system before she had another outburst and made it so they couldn't even follow the Didact if they wanted to.

"Remove the chip now, Commander." Del Rio ordered. The look in his eyes was furious, daring Lasky to step out of line and break that order.

Lasky's shoulders slumped and he relented, knowing that he couldn't step that far out of line now and still have any ground later. He reached for the chip but John reached it first. He pulled it from the system and Kelly thought he'd finally accepted it, accepted that she'd become more of a danger than an asset.

Del Rio took a step toward John and there was an anger on his face that said he didn't care if John was a Spartan or not, he demanded his orders be followed. "Give me that chip." The words were low and laced with his anger.

"The Didact has to be stopped," John asserted. Kelly felt a spike of panic as he inserted the chip into his helmet. She didn't understand how he could do that after what he'd just seen, after he'd just seen how much damage the AI could do. "If you won't do that, I will."

"I am ordering you," Del Rio's words started out low and quiet. "To surrender that AI!" He snapped and shouted at the Master Chief.

John stood defiantly before him. "No, sir." Those words put the most fear into Kelly. It was completely unheared of for a Spartan to defy orders, particularly John. Maybe the rest of them had bent the rules to get some things done but they'd never directly gone against any orders. It shook something basic in her to hear him break what was one of the few constants about him. It brought in doubt to her thoughts. Maybe they were mentally deteriorating if even a strict Spartan like John would go against orders. No, she couldn't allow such thoughts. John hadn't been acting normal and she attributed that to mental exhaustion which was likely the same thing that had caused this slip in his normal behavior.

"Lieutenant, arrest that man!" Del Rio turned to a Spartan IV that hung back a bit. "Arrest him!" Kelly could see him hesitate and look toward the other Spartan IIs. Kelly shook her head just a little bit and he didn't move from his position. Lasky tried to return order but the Captain wasn't paying attention.

John turned to Lasky, treating him as though he were the Captain of the ship. "Get word to Earth that trouble is coming. Cortana and I will do what we can back here." With that John turned and left the bridge.

Kelly's mind was already thinking. She understood what had happened and knew they needed to plan out their next move. She know that Lasky was on John's side, and the eventually Del Rio would give them orders to keep John on the ship. She didn't really hear anything else that was said, only paid attention to when they were dismissed. The Spartans moved off the bridge as a group but stopped a bit down the hallway.

"What do we do?" Linda looked to the other two. "I've never seen John do something like that. I didn't even know he could go against an order without tearing a hole in the fabric of the universe."

"We need to get to work now if we're going to be able to do anything," Kelly spoke up. "I have a plan but you two are part of it so I need to know that you'll go with it. We know that John is going to leave this ship, go after the Didact, and we know Del Rio's orders. You both know what we have to do." The other two nodded.

"If you have a plan, then I'm all in," Fred agreed. "We know our duty, no matter how much it will hurt us to do it." Linda nodded and Kelly was relieved. She has them backing her. With that she explained her plan to the other two and they set off to prepare for John's attempt to leave.


	12. Chapter 11

Kelly leaned against the Pelican, staring at the weapons that had been secured to its sides. The ship was ready to fly and had been decked out with weapons. SAWs, shotguns, DMRs, and battle rifles attached to the side for easy retrieval by forces. Enough power to take down Covenant, Promethean, or even a Spartan.

Kelly looked to her right as someone joined her. He stood at the top of the ramp, just staring at her. He took a step toward her but no more. "What are you doing here?" John asked.

"We'll we've been ordered to keep you from leaving so what do you think I'm doing?" Kelly asked, moving away from the ship into the more open area. "What do you think you're doing?"

"You came here to stop me," John concluded. "Kelly, I don't want to fight you. Even you agreed that the Didact needs to be stopped."

"Please, John, have you ever been able to win a sparring match against me when I was moving at full speed?" Kelly placed her hands on her hips but he didn't answer. He couldn't answer as he'd never fought her at full speed since the augmentations. She'd always slowed herself down. "So you were just going to go against the Captain's orders, steal a Pelican, and run off on your own to try to stop the Didact?" Anger seeped into her voice.

John moved to stand before her and his voice became quieter, trying to reason with her. "I have to do this."

"No you don't," Kelly countered. "You could just do what the Captain orders. I'm doing what the Captain ordered, even came up with a backup plan." Kelly moved over to the Pelican's side and hit the door controls. "I knew you'd try to steal this Pelican so I decided I'd wait for you, be ready to take you down." John just watched her as she moved to stand before him. "I even had a second Pelican readied so that if, by some amazing stroke of luck, you get past me then Fred and Linda are ready to pursue. I even prepared for the very slim chance that you'd be able to knock me out and gave Sapphire to Fred." Kelly moved back to the side door of the pelican. "Too bad I got in the back of the ship thinking I could ambush you but because I was so tired from the fight I took a nap." She moved through the door and took a seat inside the Pelican.

John followed her in a second later. He stood in the doorway and watched her. "You'll be my Blue Two?"

"No, because this isn't Blue Team. You're unknowingly kidnapping me and I'll have no choice but to back you up. The Rabbits have worked too hard for me to do something that would risk that work like defying orders. Though, I'll always be your rabbit."

John moved over to stand before her placing the pads of his fingers against where his mouth would be and then repeated the action on her helmet. "Thank you, Bunny."

Kelly's fist hit his shoulder and John cocked his head to the side, confused. "I can't believe you thought I'd abandon you. I'm here, able to help you. I'd never leave you to face this alone. Though really you need to get some sleep. I mean if you'd been thinking you would realize that telling the Captain that you are going to go against his orders makes it harder to go against them. Instead you should have just agreed and then gone to Lasky and gotten his help. He was obviously on your side and willing to risk it."

"You didn't seem willing to risk it. I thought you and the others didn't speak up because you didn't agree with me." John sat down in the seat beside her and leaned to the side so their shoulders were touching.

"We've all been at the working-around-orders thing for a while so we know when to keep our peace and make plans. Anyway I don't agree with all of it. I don't agree with openly going against orders as that unsettles the crew, it sure unsettled me. I don't agree with you putting the chip of an AI that just had a major outburst and put the entire crew in danger by taking down the bridge for a couple seconds into your helmet and ignore that risk. I don't agree with you not even asking for my help, but I'm being lenient as you've been off recently."

John's hand moved over to rest on hers. "I'm not going to justify what I did with Cortana's chip, I understand that what you feel comes from a concerned position for my safety. I don't know how you can stand the way Del Rio is being, though." He stared across the Pelican's bay. "I didn't ask you because I didn't want to put you in danger. You and the others worked hard to get to your positions as Commanders and I wouldn't want to ruin all of that."

"You are so stupid some times," Kelly teased. "Del Rio isn't really being a Captain right now. He's fallen apart to the point he's more like a marine we'd find on the battlefield, just wanting an exac out of the fight and he's losing control of the crew because of it." Her hand moved and gripped his hand. "I may not trust this Librarian, or Cortana, or even know if this Composer thing is real, but I trust you and I'd follow you to Hell with nothing but your word that what we're doing is right."

John intertwined their fingers. "We should get moving or the Didact will get away." John squeezed he hand for a moment and then stood. He moved away but kept their hands together as long as he could before the distance between them was too much and he had to let go. John moved out the side door and it shut behind him. Kelly relaxed in her seat and strapped in.

"Do you really think that I'm that big of a threat to him?" Cortana asked. Her voice was timid, scared.

"That outburst on the bridge showed how dangerous you are. If you do something like that, put John in danger at all, I will crush your data chip," Kelly warned. "I told you that I would kill you to save him."

Cortana didn't say anything right away. "We did have a deal. If I was a threat to him would I even know it?" The AI asked.

"Your cognitive reasoning wouldn't be functioning so no. You'll only know because my hand will be crushing your chip." Kelly felt the Pelican moving and Kelly took a deep breath. This moment the Spartans were doing something that went against everything they were trained to do, but it felt a bit freeing. They there saying here and now that they stood together, despite orders.

"If I'm such a threat why are you not demanding that we use your AI?" Cortana asked.

"That should be obvious," Kelly closed her eyes as she felt them start to gain speed. "If Del Rio decides to shoot us down to stop us then Linda and Fred still have an AI to be able to stop the Didact. I'm here to protect John from you so I'm tolerating your presence for now because I'll keep him safe." Cortana didn't reply to that, just fell silent and Kelly waited for a few seconds. "So how exactly are we going to keep the Didact on Requiem?"

"However we have to, John answered. Kelly felt the pelican even out and she guessed they were clear of _Infinity._ "The Didact has some sort of shields up. We'll have to take those down. Cortana, how do we get past them?" Kelly grimaced at the fact he was acting a mentally deteriorating AI to make the plan but she kept her silence.

"I'm marking two of the larger facilities. They're acting as traffic control for resources moving to and from the satellite. If we disrupt their communications I can forge an override code and convince it to lower those defenses." There was a momentary pause. "Another Pelican has been launched from _Infinity_ and is following."

"Good, we'll take one tower and Fred and Linda can take the other," John decided. "Cortana, send them the coordinates for one of the towers and remove it from my HUD," John instructed. "Phantom's ahead. Kelly, can you get on the side gun and give me some cover?"

"Yeah, but keep in mind this pelican has a sort of Spartan Laser turret as a forward gun, so don't think you have to leave them all for me to shoot with a machine gun." Kelly moved from her seat and to the side door. She hit the release and reached out, grabbing the turret and easily pulling herself into place, even as the wind rushed past her. She let them get closer to the phantoms before she opened fire. There were four phantoms circling the platform that was marked. Kelly couldn't do much damage with the side turret but she managed to hit a couple grunts off the side turrets of phantoms while John focused main fire on the actual ships. It wasn't long until the skies were clear and they were landing on the platform.

Kelly dismounted from the ship and grabbed weapons from the side. She grabbed a shotgun and a DMR while John grabbed a battle rifle and a SAW. Kelly nodded to John and he returned it. They moved up a ramp and into a doorway that slid open for them.

"Slight complication. There are millions of transmissions passing through this structure, and not simply the ones controlling the movement to the satellite shield," Cortana spoke up.

"Can you isolate the satellite communications?" John asked as they moved through a series of rooms that all looked the same to Kelly. It seemed like a person could get easily lost with all the identical metal around them.

"Not quickly," Cortana answered. "And shutting them all down's not an option. But destroying the systems attenuators should flood the network." Kelly's HUD turned purple and was covered in an odd static. "Of course if _Infinity_ wasn't on its way back to Earth they could overload the attenuators remotely." Her voice became distorted around the end of her sentence.

Kelly tightened her grip on her DMR and contemplated if she shot John in the back of the head if the bullet would go all the way into his helmet or only destroy the chip. She decided it was too big of a risk and that she'd rather not place John's live in danger when trying to save him. "I'm warning you," Kelly threatened.

John stopped and looked at her. "Warning me about what?" He seemed to have completely missed that she hadn't been talking to him.

Kelly shook her head. "Never mind, let's just destroy these things." They moved through a door and a watcher appeared up from below. As one they raised their guns and fired. The flying Promethean fell apart, bits and pieces scattering. Another appeared and they took it down just as easily. John took point and they moved forward where more Watchers appeared.

"The attenuators are housed in Faraday enclosures. I bet there's a release around here somewhere," Cortana informed them. Kelly fired on the last of the watchers and they looked around. Kelly motioned to the center of the room and John nodded. The Spartans moved forward, keeping an eye out for any sign of the glows or light that signaled Promethean arrival.

They made their way around the structure and eventually found a ramp up. There before them was a single terminal. "Forerunners sure like to make finding things easy," Kelly remarked. "Easy to understand floor layouts, terminals sitting perfectly in place, oh, and nice bridges that are made of actual metal. That's a nice touch."

John looked back at her for a second and then nodded. "Almost feels like it was make of a super intelligent form of life," he agreed before hitting the button. Kelly wasn't sure if he'd been adding to her joke or had actually meant it. With him not being a bit off from normal it seemed liked it could be either way.

"Okay this structure contains three essential attenuators. Sever those connections and we should be good," Cortana explained. The two soldiers moved down the ramp and toward the back structure that was moving to open up. Down below Kelly could already see the familiar glow of a Knight teleporting in. "Knights!"

"Seriously, how do you stand that?" Kelly asked, taking aim with her DMR. Below there were crawlers, watchers, and a single Knight. She and John fired on the watchers, easily taking them out. She then switched to her shotgun. "Watch my back." She didn't give him a chance to argue with her, she just jumped down from the spot and ran toward the knight. The Crawlers tried to turn after her but she heard John fire and their shots stopped. She charged the Knight and shoved her shotgun's barrel against what would be its head. She fired and the knight was blown back, breaking apart as it was destroyed. She ran straight up the ramp and toward the ball of light that must be her target. Her fist slammed into the object and it broke apart, disappearing. She turned back to see that John had jumped down to join him.

"Left or right?" John asked, asking her which attenuator they would go after next. Kelly just shrugged so John moved toward the left and Kelly followed behind him. Ahead of them a Knight appeared and John opened fire with his SAW. He cut down the Knight with ease and they ran up the ramp toward whatever had also arrived. There were a couple crawlers but Kelly took them out with two shots from her DMR. They continued along the path to another platform and more Crawlers appeared ahead. With their precision weapons they took out the Crawler with ease. A pair of watchers appeared and a Knight teleported in. John and Kelly each moved to some of the metal cover and took a moment to let their shields recharged. Kelly hadn't realized that her shield had gone down, though really working with John she wasn't used to having a shield. John looked back to Kelly and she nodded to him. They both popped out and took aim at the watchers above. They fired on the flying Prometheans and as soon as they were destroyed they ducked back into cover.

Kelly reloaded her weapon and she flashed a green light to John. The Master Chief returned the light and in unison they stood from their cover to aim at the Knight, except it was gone. They looked around the area, searching for any sign of the Knight. Kelly heard a sound behind her and she spun around to find that the enemy had teleported behind them. She raised her DMR and fired, hearing John fire beside her. The Knight suddenly moved forward, using it's quick step to rush toward them. Kelly tracked it but it passed her, moving toward John. She turned toward it but found that it too was turning, sword raised, turning toward her. Kelly started to move backwards, trying to get away from the strike. It didn't matter. The knight found its legs swept out from under it. The knight fell to the ground and Kelly watch as John punched his fist through the Knight's chest. When he pulled his hand back out she could see that he'd grabbed some parts and ripped them out.

Kelly just stared at him and John tilted his head to the side in confusion. "I'm really glad that I didn't have to fight you. I forget sometimes how strong you are and how violent you can be." Kelly moved around the disintegrating Promethean body. John moved with her as they headed toward the attenuator.

"You could have done the exactly same thing," John pointed out as he moved toward the glowing ball. "If we'd come to fighting I wouldn't have hit you that hard, if I could hit you which is unlikely with your knowledge of my fighting style and speed."

Kelly smirked behind her helmet and turned to look to the area around them. "Oh, someone remembers how to flatter a woman. You always did know just what to say without knowing it was the right thing."

"You mean facts are the right thing to say?" John sounded confused and Kelly looked back to see John destroying the attenuator.

"Great, the increased signal traffic is almost entirely blocking out the satellite communication. Only one more target left," Cortana said.

The Spartans turned and found themselves facing a newly arrived Knight that was releasing a Watcher. Kelly took aim at the watcher and fired, keeping her shots steady. She and John worked like they always had, flawlessly and with very little actual communication. John fired on the Knight with his SAW while Kelly took down the watcher with her DMR, though her ammunition was running low.

They moved ahead and found that there were Crawlers ahead of them. "I'd rather not waste ammunition," Kelly commented. "Watch the skies." She ran forward before he could say anything and she charged toward the Crawlers. She reached the first one and slammed her fist into its head, causing it to fall apart. She heard the sound of energy gathering and turned to her left to see a turret. Kelly rolled to the side and took cover behind a outcrop of metal which shielded her from the turret's shot.

"Grenade out!" John warned. Kelly glanced out and saw that he had dropped a Promethean grenade and had thrown it directly at the base of the turret. Kelly grabbed one of her own grenades, armed it, and moved out of cover long enough to roll it across the floor toward the turret. With the energy sucking Promethean grenade softening the turret up Kelly's grenade exploded below it, causing the turret to vanish. Kelly turned toward something that was jumping toward her. It was shot out of the air and the pieces fell to the ground at her feet. "Still a few left."

Kelly moved from her cover and found the Crawlers easily. They were no match for a simple punch to the head and the area was cleared quickly. John moved down the ramp and as soon as he had reached her Kelly moved with him, up the ramp. At the top they found crawlers and a pair of Watchers. Kelly focused on the Crawlers ahead of them while John fired on the Watchers. The Crawlers were easy but John had only killed one of the Watchers when Kelly spotted a Knight ahead and one to her Right. Kelly grabbed her shotgun and turned to her right, charging toward the Knight. She ignored its attempts to fire a grenade at her, just running past it before it could really do any damage. She charged fired directly into the Knight's chest causing it to break apart and vanish. She ducked into cover as the second Knight fired on her. John moved up the ramp and took cover not far away. Kelly looked around and spotted what she had hoped she'd find. The Knight she had killed had been using one of the Promethean shotguns. She kicked it across the ground and took off, drawing the fire of the remaining Knight. It focused on her giving John a chance to charge the enemy and fire at close range, destroying it.

John moved to the attenuator and with one good hit it vanished like all the others. Kelly moved over to join him, watching the area for any more enemies that might appear. "That's it, transmission buffers are overflowing," Cortana announced.

The two Spartans moved through the structure toward the doorway they'd used to come in. John stopped and looked around. "Cortana, where's this coming from?"

"Where's what coming from?" Kelly asked.

"It's the Didact's voice. Can't you hear it?" John looked around and then back to Kelly. "I don't understand what he's talking about."

Kelly shook her head. "John, there is no voice. Are you sure you're all right?" Kelly was really starting to get worried. It was a bad sign that he was hearing voices, and it didn't help that he was hearing the voice of a Forerunner that he was still the only one to have seen. "Maybe we should just get out of here."

They moved toward the doorway and found a couple Crawlers and a Knight ahead of them. They took out the Crawlers with a shot each, straight to the head. The Knight fired a weapon that Kelly didn't recognize. She dashed out of the way and just barely managed to escape the orbs of energy that were sent toward her. They took cover and Kelly looked across the way to John. John readied his SAW and Kelly nodded, knowing what he had planned. John moved out of cover and fired on the enemy. Kelly moved around her own cover and charged. The Knight was being pushed back by the SAW fie and gave Kelly the chance to blast it with her shotgun.

"I'm not picking up any signal from the Didact," Cortana announced.

"He's there, just keep trying." John looked to Kelly and moved toward him. "I know he's there. I don't know why you can't hear him but he's talking." He moved a bit closer to her and she saw his grip on his gun tighten a bit.

Kelly moved past him, shoulder bumping his. "Maybe he made a contact with your suit or something and since I wasn't there maybe he doesn't have the same connection with me. Keep in mind that AI in your suit is deteriorating. Ifhas Sapphire I'd have it check but we'll just have to wait till we meet up with Fred and Linda."

The Spartans sprinted out of the building and John stopped again. He put his hand against his helmet and Kelly looked to him. "I can hear the Didact again. I think he knows what we're doing."

Kelly moved a bit away and radioed Sapphire. "Fred, Linda, report. Is your tower down?" She glanced back at John who was beside the pelican retrieving more ammunition.

" _Kelly, we have our tower's node down. There's a snag though_ ," Fred reported. Kelly tensed at the word 'snag'. Snags were never good, they were things that they weren't ready for. " _Our Pelican was badly damaged and we're not going to be able to get back in the air. You and John go ahead without us. It would take too long for you to come back for us_."

"Understood, Fred. We'll figure out a way to stop the Didact, you and Linda just keep yourselves safe." Kelly switched off her radio and turned to John. "Fred and Linda are grounded on their tower but they got the job done. We have to go on without them." John nodded and moved back to the Pelican. Kelly moved to the side and took her place on the turret. "So if the Didact knows that we're coming then we can't get too close to the ship. How do we stop him then?"

"I have an idea," Cortana announced, though her voice was breaking up and it concerned Kelly. She thought of going back to Fred and Linda just to get Sapphire, an AI she trusted wasn't malfunctioning. "Giving you a waypoint."

John caused the Pelican to rise and they moved forward toward whatever plan Cortana had come up with. Kelly just hoped the AI was functioning enough that the plan was at all sound.


	13. Chapter 12

Kelly watched the skies as their pelican moved toward another tower. There were no phantoms looking for them and no sign of any ahead so she relaxed a bit. Her gaze turned to the Didact's ship, scowling at it. She wondered if there really was a Forerunner inside of it, or what that Forerunner might look like. She hadn't thought to ask John about it. Kelly watched as metal plates slid back from the tower that was their destination, opening up to reveal a door like on the other tower.

"Those defense spires we keep ruing into are being controlled from this tower." Cortana's voice was strained, like she was trying to lift a heavy weight while talking to them. "Get me to the control room and we might be able to reposition them to block the Didact's ship from leaving." Kelly wasn't sure if she really believed the plan would work but they didn't have any other ideas.

John landed the pelican and they moved to the sides to grab their weapons. Kelly checked to be sure her DMR was properly loaded and she had all the ammunition she could carry. She checked her weapon one last time before nodding to John. He returned the gesture and they moved toward the door. The opening passage to this tower looked exactly the same as the last tower. The only thing that was different was that the door that in the last tower had opened into the attenuator room this one opened up into a room that simply had a ramp up to a gravity lift. They moved forward and without hesitation rode the lift up.

They came out into a series of walkways and started to move forward. They both stopped as the path ahead of them fell apart. Kelly heard Cortana shout another obvious statement about the tower being altered but she ignored it. Her mind was focused on the trouble ahead. John moved forward and Kelly followed him. He took a right and jumped a gap. Kelly followed him and they moved up another ramp. At the top they were met by a trio of Grunts. Kelly didn't even think, just raised her DMR and fired. They fell with ease.

Plasma cut through the air and Kelly recognized the sound of the shots as a shade. She ducked to cover and John joined her. She looked to him and he nodded slightly. Kelly moved out of cover, raised her DMR, and fired. The shade hadn't even had the time to pull the trigger before she'd killed the grunt. There were more plasma fire so she slipped back behind cover. "Full teams ahead," she reported. The standard formation for a Covenant patrol had always been three or four Grunts, a couple Jackals, and a single Elites leading them.

"Blow through," John suggested. Kelly nodded and the two of them moved out of cover. Ahead of them was a light bridge that connected to the next platform. They sprinted across the bridge and a pair of jackals appeared. They didn't even stop, just charged. They simply shot the grunts in the head and in a show of perfect teamwork would shoot the guns of the Jackals to make them stumble back so that the other could shoot the head. They fired on Elites first knowing that they were the glue that kept Grunts from running scared at the sight of two Spartans. They made sure not to waste any ammunition as they cleared the platforms.

There were still three more platforms ahead with similar forces on them. Kelly looked around and shouldered her DMR. "I got the hinge-heads," She ducked behind cover as the plasma turret on the next platform fired at her. Kelly waited until John was behind cover before she moved out of her cover and raced across the bridge. She ignored the smaller enemies just charging at the Elite. She placed the barrel of the shotgun against the Elit4e's chest and fired. It blasted through the Elite's armor and it fell to the ground dead. A Grunt ran past her and she moved toward it, grabbing the aliens shoulder, spinning it around, and then pulling her knife out. She stabbed the blade down into the Grunt's head and then pulled it out, letting the body fall to the ground. She turned to look for more enemies but found that John had already killed them all.

John moved over to join her and they stood behind the center column of the platform as they prepared their weapons for the next run. "How long do you think we have before the Didact leaves?" Kelly asked.

"I don't know. He said something about preparing to leave. He also said something about tinkering with the Composer in the shadow of the third ring. They said that there were two Halos that we currently had bases stationed at." John reloaded his Battle Rifle and prepared to move out again. Kelly took a deep breath and then moved out of her cover. These Covenant must have watched what they'd already done and were ready for her. They all fired straight across the bridge at her. She heard the warning sounds as her shields went down and she could feel plasma hitting her armor, heating her skin for a moment before her suit tried to compensate. She felt plasma hit her side and ignored the pain as she continued to charge. She dispatched the Elite with a single shot and moved around the pillar to where she had a bit of cover. A couple Grunts tried to move around to kill her but they fell as John dispatched them.

She was surprised as John suddenly appear4ed around the column. "Kelly, are you all right?" There was audible concern in his voice. His hand moved to her chest plate and he tried to force to her move so he could see the damage.

Kelly batted his hand away. "I'm fine, it's just a little burn. Nothing worse than anything I haven't already been through." John tried again to look at the damage but she stopped him. "We are wasting time." Her shields returned and she grabbed her DMR, putting away her shotgun. "We need to change it up." She moved to the edge of cover and fired forward. She ducked back behind cover as a series of green orbs streaked toward her. John moved out his side and after a couple shots moved back to cover. He gave her a quick thumbs up that the Grunt wielding the fuel rod was dead. As one they moved out of cover again and fired on the elite. It was easily cut down by their dual fire.

The Spartans moved across the bridge and easily dispatched the Grunts and Jackals that were still there. Kelly hesitated for a moment." John," she said, snapping his attention to her. She grabbed her shotgun and handed it to him. He took it but tilted his head to the side, not sure what she had planned. Kelly grabbed the fallen fuel rod to answer his question.

They moved forward and Kelly was suddenly glad she'd grabbed the weapon. The long ramp ahead rose up to one last platform that seemed to have a gravity lift in the center. The thing was that it had just sent down a pair of Hunters. The two Spartans moved up to the top and the Hunters were ready. Kelly looked for the best way to destroy them without wasting ammunition. She surveyed the area and spotted a selection of Covenant devices that she knew were explosive. She moved around the circular platform and the Hunters moved to try to stay across from their enemy. It lead them to walk directly toward the devices. She fired at them and the area erupted into purple fire as the devices were destroyed. Still when the fire vanished the Hunters were still there. Kelly still had four more shots and she unloaded two on each of the hunters. They stumbled back near the edge and John must have seen his chance. He grabbed two Plasma grenades and tossed them, sticking each of the hunters. They exploded, blowing the Hunters back just enough that they were sent tumbling over the edge and into the abyss.

They moved to the gravity lift and it lifted them higher up. There were more platforms ahead of them. She noticed a few banshees ahead and a couple that were parked on the platforms. Ahead of them there was already an Elite waiting for them. Before they had even landed John had opened fire on the elite. Kelly grabbed her DMR and fired as well, taking out the elite. Shade turrets fired on them and Kelly took aim. They were far away but the Spartans were trained for this sort of thing. She fired once and hit the operator's head.

They moved to cover as another shade turret fired on them and Kelly looked to the Banshee parked on the platform. "I'll take the banshees and give you air support." Kelly dashed out of cover before he could respond. She moved into the pilot's seat and the Banshee took off. As soon as she was in the sky the closest Banshee seemed to notice, and so did the turrets. She dodged the lower plasma fire and turned toward the enemy Banshee. She charged it and the enemy fired plasma at her. She fired a single fuel rod blast, more commonly known as a banshee bomb by soldiers, and then rolled her Banshee to the side. She turned and chased after the enemy, firing plasma at its back.

She destroyed the Banshee and Kelly checked bellow to see John's progress. He'd already taken down three of the turrets and was currently doing what he did best. He was destroying the enemies below with efficient ruthlessness. A second Banshee turned and moved toward her and Kelly turned her attention to it. She fired with plasma and it moved out of the way, rolling to the side and then angling away. Kelly switched to the fuel rod and moved to follow the other Banshee. She fired with the weapon but it missed as the pilot moved out of the way. The last remaining Banshee moved toward them to join the fight. Kelly turned toward the third Banshee and the second moved to attack her. She waited until they were both firing on her from both sides and pulled her Banshee up, doing a quick loop to bring herself behind the second Banshee. The two Banshees fried on each other for a moment but stopped as soon as they realized that they were firing on a friend. Kelly fired her fuel rod and it hit the back of the second Banshee. The shot fried the pilot and caused the craft to fall. The Third Banshee, which had been trying to move out of the way of the destroyed Banshee but was instead hit but the falling craft. Kelly took the chance and fired on the last enemy. One fuel rod blast and a quick change to her plasma turrets to finish it off.

With the skies cleared Kelly turned her attention to the platforms ahead. She fired down at the ground, trying to distract the enemies so John could kill them easier. He was nearly all the way to the final platform which led to their destination. Kelly moved toward the platform, looking to see what she could to do make it a bit easier on them when a blast from a fuel rod streaked through the air. One of the shots hit one of her wings and she started to fall. Kelly steered the Banshee toward the platform and a pair of Jackals that were shooting at her. When she was close enough to the ground she bailed from the vehicle. Kelly hit the ground and rolled just as the Banshee crushed the two Jackals.

Plasma exploded beside her and it nearly completely took her shields down. She moved to her feet and started to move toward some cover but two more shots hit the ground. Her shields went down and her skin heated, burning. She slid behind cover and knelt down, trying to keep out of the way of any shots that might be fired. Kelly heard the Elite shout and then hit the ground. Kelly looked out from cover and found John dragging his knife over the enemy's throat, spilling its blood on the floor. It was a bit overly brutal as the creature was already dead when he'd stabbed it in the throat.

John moved over to her but was smart enough not to ask if she was all right. Kelly stood and her newly burned skin protested the movement but they couldn't stop now. They moved around the structure to a door. They moved up the ramp in the next room toward their objective. The door at the top opened up to what was the control room. A large window in front of the controls gave them a view of the Didact's ship ahead of them and the towers around it.

"Quick, let me at the spire control," Cortana instructed. John did so and inserted the AI. "Tapping into the spire central net." The towers started to move and Kelly watched as they surrounded the ship. Kelly frowned as something seemed to go wrong and the towers started to shift uneasily. "They're mine," Cortana said, a tone to her voice that sort of sounded like a character in a story, suddenly being taken over by the evil that power could bring out in people. "Now to imprison…imprison them." Her voice started to distort and her avatar flickered. Kelly instinctively moved between John and the AI, trying to keep him back. The AI was having another break down inside the systems.

"What are you doing?" John asked, trying to move toward the AI but Kelly held him back. He looked at her for a second then back out to the Didact's ship.

"Like he imprisoned his Prometheans. Like Doctor Halsey imprisoned me." The towers started to fall and Cortana's avatar doubled over. She was obviously not going to be able to get the job done and Kelly suddenly really regretted not going back to Sapphire.

"The ship's online. They're leaving." John looked to the Didact's ship. The towers had all fallen and it was clear to leave the planet. They had failed and it was a feeling that no Spartan liked. She knew for sure that John hated the feeling, always wanting to win and not accepting defeat. Kelly looked to him for a plan.

Cortana's avatar turned back to John. "I'm sorry, I don't know what…" Cortana didn't say more. She did know, they all knew, but they have more important things. John pushed past Kelly and moved to the terminal, grabbing the AI's Chip. John looked out the window and seemed to come up with a plan. "Cortana, track those Liches. We'll go across them to get to the Didact's ship."

"Wait, across them?" Cortana sounded surprised and scared by the idea of going across them, not that she really needed to worry as if John fell Cortana would simply be destroyed, not really feel any pain from the landing.

"Yes," John said as he looked to Kelly. She nodded, agreeing to the plan. Kelly checked her DMR and frowned, not happy with the amount of ammunition she had left for it.

"There are…there are several Liches moving in formation toward the Didact's ship. We're only going to have one shot at this." The platform started to move down, giving them an opening to the ledge ahead that they could jump off of.

Kelly looked around the room, annoyed it find that there weren't any weapons here. She had hoped to be able to get another weapon as she didn't have the ammunition for her DMR. She wasn't at all prepared for the arm that wrapped around her neck or the leg that moved around hers, causing her to fall to the ground. John secured his arm around her neck and arched his back, trapping her in a choke hold. "John…what are you doing?"

"Kelly, you have to listen to me. You need to go back to the Pelican, get Fred and Linda, and go back to _Infinity_. You have to get back to Earth. If I fail to stop the Didact then you'll have to stop him when he gets to Earth. He'll target all of Humanity and only _Infinity_ can stop his ship," John instructed. "You have to do this, Kelly."

"John, why are you doing this?" Kelly struggled against his hold but it was too much and she couldn't break it. "You can't do this John. You can't force me to abandon you." She gripped his arm and tried to pull it away. "Don't do this."

"Kelly, you can't come with me. There isn't time to explain, you just have to trust me." John tightened his hold on her. "You need to get Fred and Linda and protect Earth."

"John, please stop." Kelly put all her force into trying to break his hold but it was no use. He was physically stronger than her and there was nothing she could do to stop him. She'd couldn't let this happen, couldn't let herself be separated from him again. She started to breathe harder, running out of energy to fight him.

"You can't come with me," John asserted. He released a bit of his pressure, knowing that she still wouldn't be able to fight him. "Kelly, please, just go." There was a hint of desperation to his voice, almost pleading with her but that word just didn't seem to fit with the thought of John. Kelly felt a weight settle on her chest. She didn't understand why he didn't want her to go. Didn't she prove that she could keep up with him, that even with her slight injuries she was more than capable of following him? Did he really trust an AI that had just completely failed in her task to back him up more than her? She felt her chest tighten and a pain grip her. It felt like a knife in her back and she couldn't understand why he'd do it. "Bunny, please…" he whispered.

Kelly gripped his arm tighter. "No! I won't abandon you." Kelly felt like everything was falling apart around her. She wanted to keep John close, keep him safe, had waited too long to find him just to have them split up again. She didn't care what he said, she was not going to let any force in the galaxy stop her.

"Then I'm sorry I have to do this. I promise you, Bunny, that I'll come back to you. I promise it won't be Four years before we see each other again." John's head suddenly slammed against the back of her head, causing her head to hit the ground. It was hard enough that it stunned her for a moment, just long enough for him to let go of her and take off.

By the time her head had cleared and she was on her feet he'd already jumped from the ledge. Kelly moved to the spot and looked down, seeing him land on the Lich and just barely grab onto it. She wouldn't be able to make the jump so she wouldn't be able to follow him. Kelly clenched her fists, knowing that she had to find a way to follow him. The Pelican wouldn't be able to get close but she came up with a different idea as to how to deal with it.

Kelly moved back to the controls and made the platform move up. When she reached the top she turned and moved out the door to head back to the Pelican. It was a long run but on the way she radioed Sapphire. "Sapphire, tell Linda and Fred to be ready for me to pick them up."

" _They have been alerted. You said you, where is the Master Chief?"_ Sapphire asked.

Kelly finally reached the Pelican and moved into the pilot's seat. She powered up the pelican and hit the auto pilot. "Sapphire, take control of the ship."

The AI's avatar appeared over the consul. "I have command, ma'am." The AI paused for a moment before asking it's question again. "Ma'am, where is the Master Chief?" The Pelican turned and started to head to the tower that had been Fred and Linda's target. Kelly didn't answer the question, didn't know how to. "Ma'am, there's something happening. I'm not sure if you are aware." An image appeared on the console of the Pelican and Kelly watched as a massive Forerunner ship rose out of the ground. "This appears to be the Didact's full ship."

"Sapphire, where is _Infinity_?" Kelly asked, wondering if it was in danger from this new ship. She'd never seen anything like what was currently rising up out of the ground. It was massive, and not exactly what Kelly had expected. It looked bulky but overall the floating bits and the fact that there seemed to be no direct connection between the segments reminded her of everything Forerunner she'd ever seen.

" _Infinity_ has not left Requiem. They were having trouble finding a way out. We cannot enter Slip Space inside the planet. There does seem to be an opening appearing in Requiem though, ma'am. Likely the same one that pulled us in. _Infinity_ will be able to use it to leave."

Kelly relaxed a bit in her chair, tired. "Floor it, Sapphire. We need to be able to get back to _Infinity_ before it leaves" Kelly put her hand against her helmet, sill remembering the hit that John had used to stun her. What he'd done had hurt her more that physically. She felt like once more she was letting him down, abandoned him at the moment he needed her. She still didn't understand why he had done it.

"Ma'am, are you going to answer my question?" Sapphire asked. She would have guessed the AI was concerned but there was nothing in its voice to hint at it.

"He went to follow the Didact, left without me." She still felt like she had left him, even if it hadn't been by choice. Kelly tapped her finger on a bare spot of the console. "Sapphire, inform Lasky that I want to speak to him."

"Understood, ma'am. Is there anything else?" Sapphire asked.

"No, just leave me alone for the rest of the ride." Kelly reached up and pulled her helmet off, setting it in her lap. She slumped in her chair a bit, tired and stiff from the fight and her injuries. Still she couldn't rest. As soon as they got back to _Infinity_ she'd need to get to work. There was a lot she'd have to get done if she was going to be able to help John. At lest she knew he'd survived. He'd proven time and time again that if he made a promise he'd keep it, and he had promised to come back to her. Still, she'd waited too long to just sit around and wait for him to come back.

 


	14. Chapter 13

Kelly sat in the pilot's seat of the Pelican, trying to fully plan out what she would do. They had picked up Fred and Linda and were heading back to Infinity. The ship was heading to the new exit in Requiem but Sapphire had set them on a path to meet up with the ship. She'd planned out several options though she hoped to only need the first one.

"I'm sure he had a good reason," Fred said, causing Kelly to turn in her seat to look up at him. He had moved into the pilot compartment with her.

"He damn well better," Kelly snapped. Her sorrow and feelings of failure had turned to those of agitation and determination on the ride. She wasn't going to let John just leave her behind this time and she sure wasn't just going to go to Earth and wait to see if John failed or not. She didn't even want to think about how long they'd have to wait before going to see if he was alive after they were sure Earth was safe. Not to mention there was no guarantee that the Didact was heading to Earth and wouldn't take John far away.

Fred backed off, heading back into the bay of the Pelican. Kelly just watched as Infinity grew until it filled the windshield and she could slowly make out details on the ship's sides. The Pelican docked and Kelly moved out of the ship quickly.

Lasky was waiting for her. "You wanted to see me, Commander?" Lasky looked around and frowned. "Where's the Master Chief?"

"Have you prepared your report to command?" Kelly asked. Lasky shook his head. "Good, it's time for you to step up to the plate. The Master Chief went off after the Didact to stop him from getting the Composer. I know where it is now, or at least where to find it. What I need you to do is get control of his ship. If you need it we'll back your request for Del Rio to be relieved of command but I have faith you won't need us. Palmer has spoken highly of you so I know you won't disappoint." Lasky nodded. "Get to it, we don't have much time to waste."

"I'll alert you if I need to back you up but I think our case is good enough that I should be able to handle it." Lasky nodded to her and moved off to give his report.

Kelly turned to Fred. "Put Sapphire in the system." They moved over to a terminal and Fred inserted the AI. "Sapphire, get me all information you can on the bases near the Halos. Start with the one that we got Requiem's coordinates from. The Didact said that the composer was near one of them."

"Wait, you heard the Didact?" Fred asked.

Kelly didn't hesitate, knowing that if she did they'd doubt her. "Yes, I heard him. He said it was near a Halo." Kelly turned to the terminal. "Tell me as soon as you have anything. Where is Palmer?"

Commander Palmer is on the bridge," Sapphire answered. "I suspect you'd also like to know the Captain's location. He is in his private quarters."

"Thank you, Sapphire, please alert Palmer that I'll be coming to talk to her." Kelly moved away from the terminal knowing that Sapphire would do as ordered. Kelly made her way to the bridge with Fred and Linda following. When they reached the bridge Palmer was waiting on them. "Sapphire do you have anything yet?"

"Not yet but much of their data is classified so I have to crack each of them to find any information that might indicate the correct location," Sapphire reported.

"That's a really fancy way to say 'no'," Palmer spoke up. "So what do you need from me?" The Spartan IV leader asked.

"To be ready. We need to prepare a warning for FLEETCOM about the Didact." Kelly turned to Sapphire's avatar. "Can you send a warning to all ships in the UNSC that those near Earth need to return?"

"I can try but those that still haven't been upgraded will not be able to receive the message. "Ma'am, the ship has already entered slip space, heading to Earth."

"I'm aware, there's nothing we can do about that. Lasky still has to make his report so we won't be able to get command before we get to Earth. Sapphire do you have an image if the Didact's ship?" A hologram of the Forerunner ship appeared beside Sapphire. "Send it with the warning."

"I'm a little lost here," Palmer spoke up. "Wait, aren't there supposed to be one of you that's in antique armor?" The commander raised an eyebrow.

"John went to try to stop the Didact from getting the Composer but wants us to go back to Earth and protect it if he fails," Kelly explained.

"You didn't go with him?" Palmer shook her head. "What was that about getting command of the ship?" Palmer frowned, looking to the hologram of the Didact's ship.

"He didn't exactly give me a choice," Kelly muttered. "Lasky's going to request that Del Rio be relieved of duty. He's showed that he can't handle the stress of this situation but Lasky can. We need someone in command that doesn't just want to cower at home."

"Well then Lasky is the man for the job. He didn't like sitting around while you all went out and tried to save us." Palmer rest her hip against the holo tank and leaned against it. "So you want to go to wherever the location of this Composer thing is?"

"No, were not going to go there. Master Chief felt there was some danger big enough there that he took physical actions, attacked me, to stop me from following him. My plan isn't to follow him but once Lasky has command then it will be up to him. Right now my main plan is to get Lasky in charge, warn Earth about the coming forces, and find a way to monitor if Chief is successful or not."

"Ma'am, I'm ready to record a warning to send to FLEETCOM," Sapphire announced.

A recorder appeared and Kelly decided what she wanted to say. Kelly started out with a high priority warning for of incoming enemies, a string of letters and numbers that were burned in her brain by her training. "Sierra-zero-eight-seven, priority alert to all UNSC forces. There is a hostile Forerunner ship heading for Earth. It may be armed with a powerful Forerunner weapon of which power is not certain. Target should be destroyed upon arrival." The recording stopped and Kelly hoped it was good enough.

"Ma'am, I have something. Ivanhoff facility is currently evacuating and purging their systems," Sapphire announced. "I believe I've found the Composer. If we are not going to attack it then why figure out where it is?"

"Because you're an AI and can monitor what's happening there. COMMs, video, whatever you've got, and can keep us up to date on what's happening so if the Master Chief fails then we'll know." Not that Kelly thought he'd fail but this way they'd know when they needed to pick John up.

"I'm trying to break into the systems of the station. I've got video of Covenant and...I've spotted the Master Chief." Sapphire brought up video of John moving out of a building and toward an open area. Kelly frowned as Sapphire shifted the camera to look up at a giant object that was clearly Forerunner.

"That's the Composer," Lasky said as he joined them. "Infinity moved that thing to the facility but very few people were told what it was. I didn't know it was what the Didact was looking for, they never told me what it was." Lasky moved to stand with them and look at the image. "I've prepared my report for FLEETCOM. Hopefully telling them that Del Rio abandoned a war hero Spartan on a Forerunner planet and ignored a major threat will be good enough. Though, if that's not enough or they decide to just have Infinity dock do we have a backup plan?"

"Yeah," Kelly answered. "I'd figure we'd do what it seemed the Master Chief always wanted to do and throw Del Rio in a closet, steal the ship, and stop the Didact."

"Anyone else feel awkward openly talking about mutiny on an open bridge?" Linda asked.

"I would if it weren't for the fact that Del Rio did fall apart under pressure and if we're going to beat the Didact he just isn't going to cut it," Fred spoke up. "I don't think FLEETCOM will look too kindly on his actions though as retrieving the Master chief was a part of our mission."

"Let's just hope they see things our way," Lasky muttered, staring at the image of the composer. "It shouldn't be too long before we reach Earth. Hopefully it will be soon enough."

"Well the Didact hasn't taken the Composer yet, and he won't leave until he has it. I'm just wondering why he's sending Covenant down. How is the Didact going to move it?"

"I'm more of wondering how Chief is going to keep it from being moved," Kelly said, still staring intently at the image. What options were there for him if it took a massive human ship to move it?

"The waring and the report have been sent to FLEETCOM. For now the only course of action we have is to wait," Sapphire stated.

Kelly didn't like it, she didn't like standing around or just waiting on things. That's why she was a good rabbit. She moved, others waited so they could kill the enemy, that was how it was supposed to work. Kelly caught the flick of a finger next to her and she opened a private channel with Fred. "What?"

"Staring at that screen isn't going to help John, or you." Fred's voice was worried. "You'll only hurt yourself knowing you aren't there."

"Thanks for reminding me," Kelly grumbled. "It's not like there's anything else for us to do," she pointed out. "At least this way I can see that he's alive."

"Come on, Kelly. The entire Covenant army and the Flood couldn't kill him. I don't think one Forerunner could," Fred joked.

Kelly wasn't in the mood for joking. "It's not the Didact I'm worried will kill him," she admitted. "When we got to our destination, to try to stop the Didact, he put Cortana into the system. As soon as she had control of the towers she started to have another episode. She completely failed in her task, and I fear the next time she fails like that it will cost John his life because he's putting too much faith in her." Kelly let out a long breath. "I should have gone back for Sapphire. It could have done the task. Even if it failed you and Linda could have helped me stop John from running off on his own."

"If you had we'd never had made it to the final tower in time and the Didact would have just gotten away. We would be in a worse situation," Fred reasoned.

"At least if that we're the situation he wouldn't be alone," Kelly muttered. On the video she stared at the Forerunner object, the thing that was causing all this trouble.

"Kelly," Fred said, regaining her attention. "This is the way things are, they can't be changed. You just need to accept that choices were made and just make the best."

"That is what I'm doing," Kelly pointed out. The girl changed and she could see scientists preparing for evacuation. "Seeing him is the only thing keeping me from deciding to steal a ship and go help him."

Fred just sighed and relented. Kelly spent a long time just watching the screen as it changed and things happened. She frowned as the Covenant broke through into the chamber with the Composer in it. The Spartans could only watch as John moved out to meet then enemy, Spartan laser firing on Wraiths and enemy's falling to what Kelly guessed was a DMR from how he was using it. Kelly felt helpless in slip space like this. Phantom after Phantom arrived and dropped off troops. Banshees arrived and Kelly wished she was there, able to take care of the ground troops while John focused on the enemies in the sky.

Kelly pushed those ideas to the back of her mind, knowing that thinking about it wasn't helping. In proper Spartan fashion John cleared the enemies and then moved off across the area. "We are nearing Earth," Sapphire announced.

No one acknowledged the news. Sapphire had turned the camera back to the Composer. Kelly was trying to figure out his strategy, how he was going to keep the Didact from the weapon. She was surprised when the chamber was suddenly broken into. The Didact's ship hovered in the corner of the screen like an ominous monster in the corner of her eye. They could just watch in stunned silence as a light spread out from the ship and slowly the Composer lifted up.

"This can't be happening. How is he doing this?" Lasky asked. The video suddenly cut out. "What just happened? Where's our feed?"

"A sudden fluctuation in the system caused me to lose the connection. I am attempting to reestablish the connection," Sapphire answered. They stood in tense silence as they waited for the connection to return. "Our former camera has been destroyed," Sapphire announced. "I have located the Master chief." The video returned and showed a number of scientist trying to prepare for evac and John talking to one of them. "Energy fluctuation," Sapphire announced. "Coming from the Didact's ship."

The group could only watch as the scientists all turned toward a window, Cortana's avatar trying to do something. An orange light filled the area and they watched in horror as the people turned to ash. A multitude of screams filled the room and Kelly watched as John reached for the scientist he's been speaking to before he fell to his knees then collapsed to the ground before the video cut out.

Kelly felt a pain in her chest and tears start to form in her eyes. This couldn't be happening. She couldn't be light years away and have just watched John die. She suddenly felt confined in the bridge, in her armor, and it was getting harder to breathe. She tried to focus on her breathing, trying to get calm but it wasn't working.

"What was that screaming?" Palmer asked.

"It was them, what was left if them. I was monitoring the Didact's ship as best I could and...that was them." Kelly could tell that in the light of Sapphire's form its face had turned toward her.

"Sapphire, bring up that last image," Fred instructed. The last image of John collapsed on the ground reappeared and Kelly tried to look away but she couldn't.

"We have reached Earth," Sapphire informed them. "Commander Lasky FLEETCOM would like to speak to you."

"I'll take it somewhere private." Lasky mover off of the bridge, leaving for a more private location, or maybe he couldn't stand to look at the image either.

Just as on the Pelican ride Kelly's sorrow turned to defiance. His last promise rang in her ears and she began to deny the image before her. She opened a channel with the other Spartan IIs. "He's not dead," she stated.

The others looked to her. "So then you agree?" Fred asked.

"I think you both are in denial," Linda spoke up. "We all saw it, the Didact used the Composer on him. You saw what happened to the others."

"But the same thing didn't happen to him. He collapsed and all the others were turned to ash where they stood. Not to mention that if he'd been turned to ash why isn't his under suit flat?" Fred argued. "You agree, don't you?" Fred turned to Kelly.

"He made a promise that he'd come back to me. He doesn't break promises." Kelly took deep breaths and she started to calm down. "Once the Didact is dead we'll go pick him up."

There was silence for a moment before Fred spoke. "Maybe he had modified his armor to protect him. He's a smart man and he would have known that the Didact would use the Composer as soon as he got it. He had to have prepared." Fred turned toward Kelly. "Maybe he knew he couldn't make the same modifications to your armor."

"I hope it's a reason like that or else I'm going to chew him out." Kelly crossed her arms and the silence returned as they waited for Lasky to return.


	15. Chapter 14

Kelly stood on the bridge, just watching Linda and Fred as they argued over a private channel if John was alive or not. Kelly had dropped out of the conversation as she already knew John was alive and really didn't need to hear Linda's incorrect theories. The door to the bridge opened and Lasky walked in, a smile on his face.

"Command agreed with us. _Infinity_ is ours but they want all ships to stay and defend Earth. Now that the Didact has the Composer we know he's going to come to Earth. The orbital defense cannons are on alert and ships are returning to Earth to rally with us," Lasky reported. "Now we wait for the Didact to arrive. Though I'd like to start preparing by getting a fresh bridge crew." Lasky looked toward the officers working the stations. "They deserve a rest."

"We'll be your bridge crew," Kelly offered. She didn't think that Linda or Fred would object.

"Thanks, Spartan, but you've all done your part," Lasky said trying to turn down the offer. "You deserve the rest even more than my current crew."

"The Master Chief is still out there doing his duty. We can still do ours," Kelly asserted. Lasky sighed and nodded. Without another word Kelly moved over to the weapons station. The officer stood and allowed Kelly to take the station. She started to run standard checks on all of the weapon systems. Beside her Fred took the navigations station and she spotted Linda taking the communications.

The systems were a bit different than Kelly was used to but she easily adapted to the station and assured that all weapons were fully functioning.

The door to the bridge slid open and Kelly looked back to see Del Rio storming toward Lasky. "What is the meaning of this? I am the Captain of _Infinity_!"

"Not any more," Lasky countered. "Command has relieved you of duty and put _Infinity_ under my command. Now, return to your quarters. We need to prepare for the Didact's arrival." Lasky was surprisingly calm for a man who's former superior officer was shouting at him.

" _Infinity_ is my ship," Del Rio asserted. "Now remove yourself from my bridge, Commander." Del Rio glared at Lasky, trying to intimidate him.

"It isn't your bridge any more," Lasky corrected. "Now remove yourself from my bridge before I have you removed." Lasky stood tall, not letting Del Rio scare him.

This seemed to make Del Rio angrier. He took another step toward Lasky but there was suddenly armor between them. Palmer stood tall in the Captain's way. "You were told to leave," Palmer asserted. "Now leave the bridge before I throw you off it."

Del Rio seemed a bit afraid but didn't back down. "This is my ship and you take orders from me," he asserted. "I want him removed from my bridge!"

Palmer looked back to Lasky and he nodded. The female Spartan turned back to Del Rio and smirked. "All right, polite Palmer time is up. Now you get to deal with pissed off Palmer." The Spartan IV grabbed Del Rio's shoulder, spun him around, grabbed his wrist, and twisted the captain's arm behind his back. "Now move before I break it." Del Rio tried to protest but his words became a cry of pain as Palmer twisted his arm a bit more. "Walk." Del rio did as instructed and Palmer led him off of the bridge.

"Well that was thrilling," Sapphire commented in its flat voice making it unclear if the AI was serious or not. "Shall I send a report of this event to command?"

Lasky shook his head. "No, he's going to be in enough trouble as it is. I don't think he needs to have this added. Commanding _Infinity_ was probably his greatest achievement. Can't really fault him for not wanting to give it up." Palmer returned to the bridge and moved to stand beside Lasky. "Did you put him somewhere he won't cause more trouble?"

"Yeah. I thought Spartan zero-eight-seven's plans were just so great that I decided to do both. We got official command of _Infinity_ and Del Rio is locked in a closet." Palmer smiled. "He won't be bothering us again."

"Slip Space rupture," Sapphire announced. The battle group is still gathering, sir."

"We'll let the orbital defense canons see what they can do before we step in. Sapphire inform all crew to get to battle stations."

"Sir, at current velocity the Forerunner ship will reach Earth orbit in four minutes. Battle group Dakota is being ordered to engage the enemy," Sapphire reported.

"Spartan set and intercept course with the Didact's ship," Lasky ordered.

"Aye, sir," Fred replied before he typed at his terminal and the ship changed course. "Intercept course moving with Dakota set, sir."

"Sir, I'm getting a hail on communications," Linda alerted. "Patching it through."

" _Sierra one-one-seven to UNSC_ Infinity. _Captain Del Rio do you read?_ " Kelly felt a spike of hope as she heard John's voice. So he wasn't just alive but he was here, somewhere close enough that he could radio them.

"Chief, it's Lasky. Is that you?" The Commander seemed stunned that the Master Chief was still alive. Then again he had been there with them when they'd all thought he'd died.

" _Affirmative sir. Where's the Captain?_ " John asked.

"FLEETCOM didn't take too kindly to his abandoning you on Requiem. I'm afraid I'll have to do." Lasky was grinning, a new energy in his posture and joy to his voice.

" _The Didact's got the Composer. We're in a Broadsword carrying a HAVOC grade payload. On approach to deliver,_ " John reported. That must mean that we was very close to the Didact's ship if not right next to it. Kelly looked over her shoulder to the holotank where a holographic image of the Didact's ship hovered, a small dot moving along it. Sapphire must have found a way to pinpoint the signal.

"Let's see if we can grease the wheels for you." Lasky tapped into the communications of the entire battle group. "All ships prepare to engage." Kelly turned her attention back to her own station, knowing that soon they would need to be going on the offensive. She readied all weapons and prepared to try to get a target lock. Lasky scowled at the information he was being given. "Chief the battle group is moving to intercept but at the rate the Didact's ship is advancing it'll reach the wire in tee minus two minutes."

" _Commander, direct all your ships to the Composer_ ," John directed.

"Copy that, Chief." Lasky switched over to just the battle group's channel. "All ships target this location. Sapphire light up the Composer's location," Lasky ordered. He was taking to command in a serious situation like this easily and Kelly was glad that he was in charge, not Del Rio. The former Captain would have likely just hung back and let the other ships do all the fighting.

"Sir the orbital defenses have fired but they seem to have no real effect on the Didact's ship," Sapphire warned.

"Sir we are at intercept point. Ready to engage," Fred announced.

" _Infinity_ to FLEETCOM. Battle group has reached Didact's ship," Lasky reported. Kelly turned her attention fully back to her terminal and the weapon systems.

" _Captain Lasky, you are clear to engage_ ," FLEETCOM reported. Kelly removed the safeties from all weapons, fingers hovering over the terminal and waiting for an order.

"Weapons, can we get a target lock on the ship, any part of it?" Lasky asked, looking to Kelly.

She shook her head. "There's too much fire around the ship. The guns are causing too much disruption and I can't get a clear target lock on anything."

"Infinity, _the Didact just closed off our entrance to the Composer_ ," John reported.

"We could try punching a hole in that hull plating but _Infinity_ won't be able to get a clear shot with all that flack,"Lasky advised.

" _We'll take care of the guns_ ," John assure them. Kelly could only sit and watch as she tried to run a weapon's lock again and again and waited for the guns to start to go offline.

Kelly watched the screen, tracking the amount of disruption that was in her way. She noticed a drop in the amount of shots being fired. "Sir, area is clearing up. The guns seem to be going offline."

"Whatever you're doing is working. Clear up the approach and _Infinity_ can drop in to punch a hole for you," Lasky informed John.

Kelly just watched the screen, watching as one by one the guns stopped firing. "Sir, bringing firing solution online now," Kelly announced. The system was still having a bit of trouble but it was at least able to identify past the shots and to the main ship.

" _That's the last of them,"_ John reported. "Infinity, _you're clear._ " Lasky looked to Kelly and she nodded, confirming that she had a lock on the target.

"Rodger that, Chief. You might want to back up a little." Lasky's voice was calm and a bit tired, like he'd put too much energy into willing the guns to go down and it had tired him a bit. "Main battery, fire," he ordered. Kelly hit the command and the main guns on _Infinity_ warmed then fired. They blasted a hole into the plating of the Didact's ship, directly on target.

" _Clean hit. We're proceeding to insertion,_ " John reported. At that moment Kelly would have given anything to be on that Broadsword with him, ready to help him stop the Didact. Instead she was stuck here on the ship unable to do anything else to help him.

"Sir, I have lost the signal. My communications can't penetrate the Didact's ship and I cannot locate the Master Chief," Sapphire reported. "I am afraid that we will just have to wait."

Kelly clenched her fists, frustrated again. She didn't want to sit around, that wasn't how she did things. She opened a private channel with just the AI. "Sapphire, is there any way that we could assist him. Take a Longsword and try to board the ship? Take down the Didact's systems or make it easier to keep him from finding John?"

"I'm sorry, Commander, but a Longsword would just be shot out of the sky. I can try to intrude on his system enough to keep him busy and at least assist the Master Chief some." Sapphire paused for a second. "I am trying to crack into his systems but it is very difficult."

Kelly slumped a bit, not at all liking this. She didn't like sitting and waiting but here she was unable to do anything, again. She tried to think of anything, any way that she could assist John. She tried to think of every part of what John would need. She finally realized something that she could help with. "Sir, permission to head to the hanger and prepare a Pelican." Lasky looked at her, confused. "Even if his Broadsword can get away from the blast it will likely be unable to make it back to _Infinity_." It was not the best reasoning but hopefully Lasky would allow her.

He seemed to hesitate for a moment but finally nodded. "Sapphire, take over weapons. Commander, prepare a bird to bring him home," the Commander ordered.

"Yes, sir." Kelly stood from the terminal and left the bridge. Sapphire could easily handle the weapon systems. She made her way down the hallways to the hangar. At least now she was moving, she could do something. She knew she'd need EVA equipment, a medical kit, maybe even a cryo chamber in case he was hurt enough that he needed to be frozen to keep him from dying. Soldiers moved out of her way as she moved with purpose down the hallways.

"Ma'am, you are aware that this course of action is likely futile," Sapphire spoke up. "Why are you doing this? It is likely that his ship will either be fine out destroyed."

"Because I can't just stand around and do nothing. I have to be doing something and the escape is one thing that I don't know if John planned out. If we get a signal from him then we'll be ready to help him if needed. It's not even about actually being able to do something but being ready to do something if he needs it." Kelly knew it wasn't logical but she needed something to do.

She reached the hangar and picked out a Pelican, starting to load it with equipment. She stowed away everything and checked the vehicle's systems. She was running the final checks of the ship when Sapphire contacted her again. "Ma'am, the Didact has fired the Composer." Kelly felt a stab of fear at the news. She'd seen what the Composer did and now he was using it on Earth. "New Phoenix has been hit though I'm not sure how wide an area it is targeting."

"Is there anything _Infinity_ can do?" Kelly asked. There were people being turned to ash on Earth and there had to be something that they could do to stop it. She wondered what was taking John so long. It wasn't that she was impatient but with his skill and how much he had proven to be able to do on his own she would have thought he'd have dropped the nuke and was making his way out by now. Maybe he was waiting to get far enough away that he would get away safe before detonating it.

"There is nothing we can do. If we fire on the Composer we likely won't do anything and we'd kill the Master Chief. We have not yet heard back from him and are not sure that he failed," Sapphire informed her.

Kelly sat down in one of the seats at the rear of the Pelican and shook her head. "It's never easy for a Spartan to be helpless to save people," she informed the AI. I know he won't fail so we just have to give him time." It was more to convince herself, tell herself that he would keep his promise and come back to her but she just had to wait.

"Ma'am, the HAVOC missile has been detonated." Kelly stood as Sapphire informed her of the event. "The Didact's ship has been destroyed and it appears the Composer with it as it has stopped firing on Earth." There was a moment that Kelly was holding her breath, waiting for the news of John's Broad Sword. "I am not finding the Master Chief's ship, Ma'am."

Kelly found it hard to take in a full breath. This felt more real than when the Composer had been fired at him. This was a HAVOC, it didn't leave anything behind but destruction. If his Broadsword hadn't gotten away than he would have been destroyed with it. "Scan the area, Sapphire. Maybe his ship crashed but he found an escape pod or something." She was grasping at straws, just hoping that he was still alive.

"I am scanning, Ma'am, I have found nothing large enough to be an escape pod," Sapphire reported.

Kelly shook her head, not wanting to believe it. "No, no he's out there and we have to go and get him. I know he's out there. He promised." Kelly was feeling panic. They hadn't gotten that far jut to lose him now. "He doesn't break promises."

Kelly hit the COMMs and radioed the bridge. "Commander, I'm heading out to see if I can find him." Lasky would know who it was that she was talking about, the same person they were all wondering about.

There was a pause before Lasky finally replied. " _Permission granted, Commander. Good hunting."_ She could hear in his voice that he was shocked and stunned by what had just happened.

Kelly took the pilot's seat and a minute later she was launched into space. "Sapphire, do an active scan of everything. I want you to find anything that's the size of a human. He's here, he has to be."

"Ma'am, are you all right? You seem to be distressed. Your adrenaline levels are elevated, your breathing is a bit uneven, and you seem to be upset." Sapphire was obviously concerned but Kelly ignored it.

"Just do what I told you, Sapphire." Kelly moved through the debris field and was looking for anything out of the ordinary to her. It was tense for her, fear starting to build as they failed to find anything. She had to take deep breaths and fight to keep herself calm as the fear threatened to dig it's claws into her and not let go. A glint caught her eye ahead and she angled the Pelican toward it. She could just barely make out that the object seemed different to her. "Sapphire, scan ahead of us."

There was a pause before the AI said anything. "I have picked up what might be a human form," Sapphire confirmed.

Kelly hit the auto-pilot and stood from her seat. Take us to it and swing around." She moved to the back and grabbed one of the thruster packs, hooking herself up by a tether to the Pelican. She checked over her suit's seals, knowing that if there was one puncture it could kill her.

"Confirmation, it is the Master Chief. Informing the Commander of our discovery," Sapphire announced. "Swinging Pelican around."

The thrusters fired and Kelly could feel the ship turning. "I told you, Sapphire, he doesn't break his promises anymore." Kelly secured her gear and hit the controls on the rear of the pelican. The hatch opened and she could see him now, hanging limply in space. He looked to be safe, no burns on his armor and she couldn't see any punctures. Kelly pushed out from the Pelican and drifted through the empty space toward him. She'd reached him and grabbed onto his armor. She wrapped her arms around him and held on tight to his armor. "All right, Sapphire, pull us in." She felt a slight tug on her armor and the two of them started to drift back toward the Pelican. John didn't move, didn't make any sign that he was aware of what was happening or awake. She held on to him a bit tighter.

They reached the Pelican and Kelly shut the rear before she finally secured John into one of the seats. She ran a hand over the side of his helmet and frowned, not happy with his condition. "His suit indicates that his vitals are steady though I don't understand how he survived," Sapphire voiced.

"I told you, he made a promise to me to come back to me. He doesn't break his promises." She took a seat beside him and gently took his hand in hers. "It's all right, John. I've got you now." She squeezed his hand slightly. "I'm always going to be here to bring you back. No matter how far from me you get I'll always find you." She leaned over and let her head rest on his shoulder, smiling behind her visor as she felt silent and she just enjoyed the peaceful ride with him.


	16. Epilogue

Kelly moved down the hallway of the base, heading to her quarters. She'd made her report to all the necessary leadership, height sure to note Lasky's excellent performance, she'd had her armor removed and changed into some comfortable standard gear, and all she wanted to do now was flop into bed and get some sleep. She hadn't gotten a moment of sleep since they'd woken from cryo near Requiem and she was tired. She wanted to visit John but the last she'd been told he was being checked over by some medics. Maybe when she woke up he'd be finished and she could get some answers out of him.

The door to her room slid open and she froze when she realized it was occupied. She stood in the doorway and just stared at him. He was sitting on her bed, leaning forward with his forearms resting on his knees, his armor gone and replaced by standard clothing. His gaze turned up to her and she could see the fatigue on his face. "Can I explain?" he asked.

Kelly sighed and moved into the room. She was a bit on edge, which was silly because this was John, but he had attacked her the last time she'd seen him. She sat down beside him on the bed, staring ahead at the wall. "You better have an explanation. How did you even find my quarters?"

"I asked Fred and he brought me here," John answered. "Kelly, I want to apologize for a couple things. I had to do what I did."

"You had to attack me, leave me behind, and leave me unable to help you, again." Kelly crossed her arms over her chest. Sure she was still sore over what he'd done but she was hoping he'd have a good excuse. She didn't want to be mad at him but his actions had hurt her in several ways and she couldn't just forgive him because she didn't want to be angry.

"I didn't have the time to explain and I knew you wouldn't leave me voluntarily. I couldn't protect you from the Composer so you couldn't come with me. I watched those scientists die and it made me glad I didn't take you. If I'd watched you die the way they did then how would I have found the strength to go after the Didact?" Kelly smiled a bit at his words. She knew he was trying to smooth things over with pleasant words. "The Librarian did something to me that she said would save me from the Composer, unlocked something in my genetics, but she didn't do the same to you. I had a chance of surviving but I wouldn't be able to save you. I didn't have the time to convince you of all of that. I'm sorry, Bunny."

Kelly considered his apology. She glanced in his direction and could see that he was watching her for any sign of her thoughts. Kelly sighed and nodded. "All right, I'll accept the apology and forgive you, this time. Ever do that again and you'll have to come up with a much better excuse. I'm tired of not being able to help you. I want to stand beside you, even if that means running into certain death."

"You may be willing to risk your life but," John put his hand palm up on the bed between them. "I'm not willing to let you die. We're supposed to protect the people we love." He looked down to his hand and then to hers. "The last time I touched another human was when we kissed before you were taken." Kelly uncrossed her arms set her hand in his. John intertwined their fingers and Kelly smiled, having forgotten how warm his skin was. "I have something else I need to apologize for."

"You do realize I forgave you, that means you're on my good side. You really want to ruin it by bringing up something you did that I don't know about? Because I'm not mad about anything else." Kelly looked down at their hands and smiled. His hand had not been scared more than the last she remembered. It was good to know at least one thing could still remind her of the days before Reach.

"When I set off that HAVOC I expected to die. I activated it knowing that I wouldn't be able to keep my promise. I'm sorry." John raised their hands and placed a kiss on the back of her hand. "I ask your forgiveness for almost breaking my promise."

"John, you didn't break your promise so there's nothing to apologize for. You came back to me, just as you promised, and I didn't even have to wait three years." Kelly leaned over so her shoulder was touching John's. He let their hands fall to the space between them.

"I only was able to come back because Cortana saved me." Kelly raised an eyebrow so John continued. "She saved me from the explosion, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to return. I had no escape plan," he admitted.

"How exactly did Cortana save you?" John frowned but didn't answer Kelly's question. "John, if there's one thing I've learned it's that you save yourself, I just need to be there to pick you up." Kelly grinned at him. "Did she explain how she supposedly saved you?"

John shrugged slightly. "She didn't say. I just saw her after the explosion went off and she said she wasn't coming back. Said she only kept enough of herself to get me off the ship." John squeezed her hand a bit. "I didn't save her like I told her I would."

Kelly shook her head. "John, she couldn't be saved, and she knew that. She was rampant and talking to her after the HAVOC went off doesn't mean anything. You didn't see her do anything?" John shook his head and Kelly continued. "Then you're assuming she actually did something. You were in the debris field of the ship so you weren't taken off of it, John. Maybe you just hallucinated or something, because there's no way she could have saved you. Maybe the Librarian did something. If she could see far enough ahead to know you needed to be protected from the Composer maybe she knew that something would have to save you from the HAVOC."

"Do you really hate Cortana so much that you won't admit that she saved me?" John asked.

"First, there's no proof she saved you just the word of a rampant AI that for all we know was a hallucination from being knocked out. Second, you need to come to terms with the fact that she wasn't human. I don't thank your armor for saving you in combat so why would I credit an AI for anything. They're equipment, that's all. You're the one that gets the job done, that saves yourself in the ending. You didn't thank the Longswords for carrying you off of the Halo or Forward Unto Dawn for getting you off the Ark, sacrificing itself but still saving you with what bit of it was left. What I'm saying is that it is the job of our equipment to do those things, just as an AI is supposed to protect humans. You want to treat her like she did something special but she didn't." Kelly turned her gaze to the wall. "I will admit that I also don't like some lines of programming and a hologram think that they could get between us, and purposefully do so. That you'd love it when you..." Her gaze turned toward the floor.

John looked at her and tilted his head to the side. "What? Cortana was my friend and that was the way I cared for her. For a long time she was the only person I had to talk to, that had my back all the time." John's thumb gently moved over her skin of their clasped hands. "She was my friend and I'm sad to have lost her, but the way I cared for her was nothing like how I love you." Kelly looked to him and he was staring at their hands. "I did ignore her rampancy for too long. I'm just tired of having to leave friends behind, watch them die. I didn't want to give up on another friend."

Kelly sighed and shook her head. "John, I get that. I know how hard it is to watch friends die, but we aren't all dead. The truth is at the most AI are like pets. Some people get attached to them but they live much shorter lives and when they die we get over it and get another one. Though more people get attached to pets as they are alive and AI aren't. You have living people who are happy to have you back, that's what you should focus on."

"Does Sapphire ever take offense when you say things like that? I know it would have hurt Cortana," John asked.

"No, Sapphire understands my logic. See to me to be alive is to struggle. We struggled in training to be what we are, humanity struggled to stay alive, and animals have a daily struggle to survive. AI are handed everything. Cortana was able to do all she could because she was given all the best code cracking programs, things she didn't have to learn but was just given. Not to mention that life is supposed to change. Life evolves, AI don't. You aren't the selfish kid I meet that first day of training. You improved over time. AI are stagnant and they don't really improve, only fall apart. Compare you and Cortana. You became braver, determined, strong, and a leader. As she became more rampant how did she act?"

"She became more afraid, more frantic, and couldn't complete tasks." John hesitated for a moment. "I would rather remember her as the AI that saved me. it will make it easier to accept her death, like it did with Sam." John closed his eyes and Kelly knew he was feeling the same old numb pain from the death of their friend. "Can we drop this subject?"

"If you don't want to talk about that what do you want to talk about?" Kelly asked.

"I'd rather just focus on how soft your skin is, or how I missed talking to you." John leaned a bit toward her and Kelly remained still, trying to figure out exactly what his intentions were. "I love you, Kelly. I always have and always will." His free hand moved up to her cheek and he angled her head down a bit so he could place a kiss on her forehead. "No AI could ever compare to you or have a bond with me the way you do."

Kelly smirked. "Good to know." Kelly reached up with her free hand and ran her fingers over his cheek. "John, I know you lost people but there has never been something you haven't given your all. We can't always control the choices that others make or those twists of fate that seem so cruel. You don't have to like it, that's just the way things are. All we can do is be happy anyone made it out alive."

John relaxed a bit. "You always have the right thing to say," he commented.

"Well one of us has to know what to say," Kelly teased. "I know Earth isn't really home but I suppose I should welcome you to your new home."

"I've never thought of home as a place. Reach was always what I saw as my home world but not my home." John leaned forward so that his forehead was resting against hers. "I missed my home."

"Well your home missed you too." Kelly let her eyes slowly close as she enjoyed the calm. She hadn't felt this peaceful in years and she just wanted to bask in the moment. When John moved away from her but all protest was silenced as his lips touched hers. Her hand moved from his cheek to his neck, attempting to pull him closer. At the same time his hand moved down to her waist and pulled their bodies a bit closer. They had to lift their hands, finger still intertwined, so that she could scoot a bit closer to him. They broke apart and Kelly grinned at him. "Do you have somewhere to sleep?"

"I didn't ask. I only asked where you slept," John answered.

"Well you're more than welcome to stay with me," Kelly offered. She examined his face for a second. Kelly leaned toward him, placing her head on his shoulder. She slipped her hand from his and John's arms moved around her. Kelly leaned into him and relaxed against his chest. "Welcome home, Johnny."

John placed a kiss on the top of her head. "It's good to be home, Bunny."

End


End file.
